I’ve had this project in mind for a while and have finally gotten around to doing it! My kids make SO much art. Often sitting down and completing painting after painting in one session, so by the end we have a whole pile of artwork and no paper left! Often their paintings are very quick though, and while that’s absolutely fine, I also wanted to try and encourage some longer projects. Art that they could come back to over the course of a few days and build upon. I decided to start with a group process art activity for my oldest three girls. They are aged 6.5 years, 4.5 years, and 20 months. My 20 month old is really interested in art lately and wanting to do whatever the older girls are doing so I wanted it to be something she could be involved in too.

Day One

I decided on a large canvas for the artwork, and on the first day presented the canvas along with some paint, paintbrushes, a roller, and foam brushes. As my 20 month old was joining in I knew it was highly likely the paint would end up mixed, so decided on only using colours that would work together and not turn to a big mess of brown! The girls and I decided on warm colours as it is almost spring here and it would be lovely for decorating our spring wall.

If you’re a regular reader you know I’m all about process art! Therefore, I didn’t give them any instructions. Just presented the materials and let their creativity guide them! The roller was a clear favourite because it produced really interesting textures.

Day Two

Day two was yarn and glue! I picked up this beautiful thick and colourful yarn from Spotlight and it was perfect.

I cut the yarn into different lengths so it was ready to use and I also watered down the glue a bit so it was thinner and easy to coat the yarn with.

They dipped the yarn in the glue and put it on the canvas however they liked.

It was a really beautiful effect! We used PVA glue that dries clear so we wouldn’t lose any of the beautiful colour of the yarn.

Day Three

Next we used some beads and coloured glue. To colour the glue we simply added a little paint to it. We stuck with the warm colours again and coloured it red and yellow.

The girls used wooden sticks to put globs of glue wherever they needed it…

…and also to flick some glue around, creating this beautiful effect. ‘It’s raindrops on a spiderweb Mum!’

Then they stuck the beads into the glue.

It was really a group effort! Miss 20 months loved joining in and the beads in particular were great fine motor practice for her.

Day Four

Ok, so this wasn’t actually day four. I did intend to do it on a different day but my kids were too excited and wanted to keep going, so we actually did it right after the beads. Glitter!! Very little is complete without glitter here.

With glitter, they always take a ‘more is more’ approach, ha! The perfect sparkly finish!

And because it was all process oriented art then it’s not about the end result. But still, look at the end result!! I love it! It’s so different and colourful and perfect for brightening up the play room for spring. I love that they all had a hand in making it too. It just might be my favourite thing they’ve made so far! We’ve all got so many ideas for more artwork now.

What have you been creating lately?

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The canvas, paint brushes, roller, foam brushes, yarn, beads, and glitter used for this project were all from Spotlight. They have a huge range of art materials and you can see them online here! A few people have asked me where I get paintbrushes for the kids that are of a good quality (often ‘kids’ brushes aren’t), but also inexpensive. The brushes in the pink tin in the first picture came in a pack of 25 for only $4.99 from Spotlight! They had a huge range and I chose this pack because it had lots of different sizes. I find it hard to get a variety of sizes without buying multiple packs and ending up with more than I need, so would definitely recommend if you’ve had the same trouble! The roller was also a huge hit so I’m going back for two more.