Melty, messy paint-on-a-stick, perfect for warm-weather days.
Art Project: Paint-sicles!
Supplies:
paint
ice cube trays
wooden sticks
heavy paper
Book:
What can you do with a paleta? / Tafolla, CarmenPrep work:
1. At least one day before you want to do this project, squeeze paint into the compartments of an ice cube tray.
2. Run a strip of masking tape along the top of the "cubes" and poke a wooden stick through the tape into each cube. This will hold the sticks straight.
3. Put the ice cube trays in the freezer and leave them there until the paint is frozen solid.
What Kids Do:
paint, paint, paint!
Hindsight Tips:
--I made 28 paintsicles and used them for three back-to-back classes. A total of 57 children used them over a 3 hour period and there was just about the right amount of paintsicles. I did stick extras that weren't being used in the freezer whenever I could.
--Our red paint had been sort of lumpy going into the ice cube tray and it was lumpier when it melted. According to this blogger, acrylic paint makes for smoother paintsicle results.
--I was surprised that only one kid in the whole group tried to eat them. I think this might have been because they weren't in the traditional popsicle shape. Just sayin'...
Variations to try:
--make larger paintsicles in Dixie cups--paint with actual popsicles
Adult Challenge: Don't tell your child their artwork is "pretty." Instead, ask them questions about their process--did they have fun? how does the paint feel? etc. (This challenge is HARD!)
You can also point out something you especially like and ask how the child achieved that - for ex. "I really like the way you painted the sun, how did you get it to look like that?" And when you're stuck, you can simply say, "tell me about your picture."
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