Soapy water isn't strictly necessary, but I have children who feel more comfortable in a project when they can clean their hands, so it's much better for us! Some of our paints were very thick, so we added a spoonful or two of water to the egg cup.

We cut lengths of string -- around 6-8 inches -- and dipped them into the paint. Which would we like best? The kite string? A medium-weight yarn? Something different? If you are playing with someone who doesn't like to get their hands messy, use a clothes pin to hold the end of the string. My son doesn't like things on his hands, but he was game for this. "This is very intriguing..." he said.

It was all about experimenting. We used yarn, and we tried it with kite string.

We tried designing and shaping deliberately, and we played with loops.

We tried dragging string this way and that between two pieces of paper. "That looks like a fish!" "This looks like an alien!"

Sometimes, in between, we rinsed our fingers and strings, squeezing out the water.

We tried folding our paper, and we tried just bringing over a corner, and dragging it through that.

What will yours look like?