Kids Art - Block and Paper Towel Prints

Do you have some letter blocks at home? I am constantly tripping over them and finding them in the oddest places like in the dryer (how did that happen??). My kids rarely use them for building any more so I tried to breathe some new life into them. I was perusing a design blog, Print and Pattern, and they shared some images from a book where they wrapped blocks in yarn. That gave me an idea for some fun kids art. This Block and Paper Towel Prints project was inspired by big people art.  Often you can find ways to simplify activities to make them accessible for little artists. My little artists love creating with paint as you can see in the Kids Window Art Activity.

You will need:

• Wooden blocks
• Yarn
• Tempera Paint
• Paper towels
• White paper
• Tray

My stumbling block, literally.

Did you know kids can use these for more than building and throwing?  They are great for play dough also as the kids can make imprints in the dough of backwards letters.  As long as you don't mind backwards letters.

To make block and paper towel prints, wrap a length of yarn around the block. I wrapped it 4-5 times one way and the 4-5 times another way to create a cross pattern. I also wrapped them just one way for a different look.

Simply dip the yarn covered blocks in a stamp pad or paint and make some fabulous prints.  You know how I like to test out these projects first?  Well, this one was really fun and I think it would be a good time for an adult and even a surly tween/teen.  This is my sample.

We had some ink pads for rubber stamps but they seemed kind of dry, so I had to improvise.  I made my own budget stamp pad by folding some paper towels on a tray and spreading some paint on them.

I showed the girls how to dip their block in the paint and then make prints on the paper.  At first they didn't press very hard, so the prints didn't come out so well, but once they put a little more force into it, they were printing like old pros.

A had a great time mixing the colors on her block to make a pretty rainbow effect.  

When the girls indicted they were done (by yelling "I don't want to do this anymore!" I am really good at reading them), I felt like there was too much paint on the tray to go to waste so I grabbed some copy paper and we pressed it on the tray and made some cool looking prints.  I love how the texture of the paper towel made a neat pattern on the paper.

Here is our awesome art gallery of block and paper towel prints

For more fun ways to play with paint check out:

                          Bubble Wrap Prints                                  Painting with Rubber Band Paintbrushes

  

Want more Mess?
Subscribe via Email or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or Google+