Painting with Shredded Paper

   

The other day I got a package in the mail. When I opened it, I was greeted with a ton of brown shredded paper. I love to create kids art and activities using stuff we already have, so I got to thinking about what I could do with all this shredded paper. Somehow I got it in my head that we could paint with this stuff. Now I just had to figure out how to do that...

Supplies you will need:

• Paint
• Shredded paper
• Masking tape
• Paper

While I was gathering my supplies, I noticed this little happy face in the paint. How can you not smile after seeing this? Love little reminders to be happy that are hidden in the oddest places.

But I digress... To make the shredded paper easier to paint with, I made small piles of the paper and taped one end together using masking tape. I had to make sure they were wrapped super tight and that there were no loose pieces that could fall out during painting.


    

I tested the shredded paper "brushes" to see how they worked and was pleased with the results.

Now it's the kids turn!

You can see that even wrapping them as tight as I did, there were still pieces of the shredded paper that came out.

B enjoyed mixing the colors with her shredded paper "brush."

Little C used the paper to make some stamps.

She did quite a few paintings. I will warn you, this is a MESSY activity. Our hands were green by the end of it. But we learned to paint in a new way and had some frugal fun.

Here are the results of our shredded paper art. Next time you get a package, save that paper and try it yourself. 

    

If you like this project and are looking for new ways to paint, check out Making Snowmen with Hair Curlers.