A messy, fun and easy painting activity

I love having something in mind to do, something to look forward to. It can be a bit of a bright moment amongst all the other parent-y things you get swept along with doing. 

Having an activity at the back of your mind can provide a little bit of a sense of control over the days, giving you something to plan and prepare for. 

So throw this idea in your resource bag and pull it out when you’re ready. 

Painting/Printing with flowers, leaves and other garden goodness. 

What you’ll need

• Paint

• A collecting basket

• Paper

• Paintbrushes

• Optional - newspaper to cover table or floor space, smocks to wear. 

Start by heading out into the garden, along the street, or on a special trip to a park or reserve. Use your collecting basket for storing your discovered treasures. 

These treasures might be;  - interesting shaped leaves, a piece of tree bark, some weeds or flowers. 

Take them home and prepare your space (drop sheet or newspapers, smock or old clothes) and your colour palette. Maybe choosing together four or five colours that you want to use. 

Next the fun part. 

You can use a paint brush to apply paint onto your flower, weeds or other collected treasures, or you can use the flower as the paint brush. Use as much paint as needed - it’s all an experiment! 

Then turn the flower/leaf/weed over and press the paint into the paper. Depending on your materials this provides all sorts of sensory feedback and reminds us that natural materials are important in our day to day making and playing.  

The prints might make a picture… or more likely just the process of painting and pressing will be so enjoyable that it will turn into a big beautiful maze of shapes and colours. 

Have fun!