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Painting is a fun activity to do with your child. But, I like to change it up every once in a while and paint in a new way with my three year old daughter. This led to the idea of painting with pipe cleaners. Emma Owl has unique paintbrushes you can make with everyday objects like pipe cleaners, but I wanted to do something a little different. I made the pipe cleaners into different shapes and then let my daughter paint with shapes. They became like stamps that my daughter could use with paint.
How to Paint Using Pipe Cleaner Shapes
Materials:
- Pipe cleaners
- Plastic tablecloth (optional)
- Paint
- Paper plate
- Paper
Prep to Paint With Shapes:
Before we got the paint out, I made all the pipe cleaner shapes for my daughter. An older kid could do this part themselves. All I did was cut a pipe cleaner into pieces and twist each piece into a different shape. I made a square, circle, triangle, star, and heart.
Then, I got both my daughter and the kitchen table prepped for painting. I changed my daughter into paint clothes and laid out a plastic tablecloth.
Lastly, I let me daughter pick out a few colors of paint. I squeezed the paint out on a paper plate. I chose to use a paper plate this time since some of the shapes were pretty big and I wanted my daughter to be able to see what she was doing.
Painting With Pipe Cleaner Shapes:
Now it was time to paint. I talked my daughter through dipping a pipe cleaner shape into the color paint she wanted to use. Then, I asked her to place it on a piece of paper a few times. At first she only did it twice for each shape and she made sure each shape was a different color. After she finished using all five shapes, she mixed up the colors and amounts more.
Then, I just let her do her thing. She decided part way through that it would be fun to fold the paper. She really enjoyed seeing the paint transfer from one side of the folded paper to the other.
Conclusion of Using Pipe Cleaners to Paint With Shapes:
This wasn’t my daughter’s favorite craft, but she still enjoyed it. I think she liked doing something a little bit different from what has become normal painting. The shapes definitely didn’t show up very clearly, but it still looks fun and colorful. The real test will be to see if my daughter asks to do it again. In the meantime, we will hang it up on her art clothesline.
