We are still on break from school and still in crafting mode. I read about painting sticks on a blog and thought, hey my kids love sticks and they like painting. Maybe we should give it a try! On our last trip over to the park I had the boys gather a few good sticks for our project. We had to set them in the sun for a day or so because they were so wet from a recent rain. When they were dry enough to work with we set to painting.
I put out a bunch of paint colors on our palate (also known as a paper plate). We each chose a stick and began painting. At one point my eldest said to me, “Why are we painting sticks?” It was the sort of comment that has a bit of an underlying has-my-mom-gone-nuts-tone to it, but I simply replied, “Because it is fun and it is different.” And it is different! It is a completely different experience from painting a flat piece of paper- the texture is different, the shape is different and the results are definitely different. I loved painting my sticks and could have done it for hours. My son painted for about an 20 minutes and then was done.
I was looking around on the web today and saw that painted sticks seem to be an “in” thing right now. I had no idea. I thought someone just had a really cool and quirky idea that spread. Guess I was wrong. Here are some of the ones I found- both “professionally” done sticks and kid created. They are all gorgeous!
Trendland: Canadian Artist Ginette Lapalme
Etsy: Bonjour Frenchie
Toddler Approved: Rainbow Stick Painting
Here is what we did…
Materials:
- dry sticks- with or without the bark or both
- paints
- paintbrushes
- newspaper or something to paint on
- lots of wipes/towels- this is a messy one!
Mama’s Directions
- Grab a stick and paint it!
- Allow to dry
- Enjoy!
© Boy Mama Teacher Mama 2012
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So much fun! We do this with rock we find on our walks. Thanks for sharing! Hope you will join me at Mom’s Library http://www.trueaimeducation.com.
I know my toddler would love this and would definitely then use his painting sticks as rhythm sticks. We love sticks around here – http://jennifischer.blogspot.com/2012/04/ten-for-tuesday-all-you-need-are-sticks.html
I really love this idea. Could be used as rhythm sticks too. 🙂
Great idea!