Painting With Straws

Some projects are tried and true—and this is one of them! Kids will be delighted to watch their paint spread in crazy directions and blend together to form new colors.

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Materials you'll need

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1
Gather your materials and protect your workspace. This project is messy but really fun!

Step 2
Drop a blob of paint onto your paper. Position your straw over the paint and blow.

Step 3
Watch the paint go!

Step 4
Maddie started out making a scene (and a very fine tree), then she saw what fun Trev was having just going wild with color and design, and she decided that was a fine idea! If a design starts to look like something--then, by all means, draw a face on it. Or antlers. Or leaves. Or shoes!

Step 5
Watch how the paint spreads in different directions. Add more paint to the paper and keep blowing through the straw!

Step 6
You can also use a paintbrush to spread the paint around.

Step 7
Try some experiments: What happens when you blow directly over the paint? Or to the side? What if you blow softly or hardly? Does your design start to look like something? Perhaps a tree, face, or antlers? Keep going until your painting is complete!