Looking to breathe new life into arts and crafts time with your child? Use branches, leaves, pine cones, or other objects in lieu of paintbrushes and you can create a masterpiece with a little help from Mother Nature. Not only do these natural objects create incredible textures on paper, but you’ll be fostering a lifelong love of the outdoors.
Have an adventure with your child before putting pine cone to canvas. Go outside and gather materials in your backyard or a nearby park – feel free to turn finding for nature’s paintbrushes into a fun scavenger hunt!
School Smart Tempera Paint – Pints – Set of 12 – Assorted Colors
Pacon Tru-Ray Construction Paper, 9-Inches by 12-Inches, 50-Count, White (103026)SuperMoss (24511) Black Spruce Pine Cones, 8-Ounce, BrownTouch of Nature 38192 Pheasant Wing Quill, 7-Inch
What You Will Need:
• Natural objects like branches, twigs, pine cones, feathers, and bunches of pine needles.
• Washable tempera paint
in various colors
• White construction paper
Directions:
1. Gather natural objects to be used as paint brushes
2. Pour tempera paint in a few dishes, arranged by color
3. Encourage your child to dip the natural objects into different colors and paint on the construction paper
Warning: This activity can get messy!
Painting with branches and pine cones leads to amazing textured paintings! Encourage your child to cover the objects in paint and dab gently with branches, roll pine cones over, or even whack the paper to create a variety of cool patterns.
Relax, make something beautiful, and have fun! And throughout the activity, talk to your child and ask him about the experience. What does the paint look like? What kind of picture are you making? What texture does the pine cone make?
Enjoy!
