Broccoli Painting  

This year we grew a lot of broccoli in our vegetable garden. I was hoping growing it would spark interest in eating it ,the way growing spinach did last year but no. Not at all. Other than offering it up to anyone who wants some, one thing broccoli is great for at our house is painting. Broccoli used as a paintbrush is so much fun, add in a color mixing activity and it’s a huge hit! I am still hopeful that playing with it will lead to a desire to eat it but my daughter was never the one who ate paint, that was my son.

1. Gather your materials. You will need red, yellow , and blue paint, plates to mix them on , paper to paint on, and some broccoli.
2. Start by squirting some paint on the plates. We did red and yellow , blue and yellow, and blue and red. I like to use paper plates for a lot of reasons and for this craft I like using white so kids can see the result of mixing the colors clearly. Don’t fret if you don’t have white plates or paper plates once the kids print the paint on the paper they will see the color clear as day.
3. Dip the broccoli in and explore!My daughter mixed each one then printed them immediately.Then she returned to see if she could make brown. With her hands. When you do color mixing with your kids you have to expect mess and exploration. This is why I did it outside. My daughter loves to “hand paint” as you can see and instead of just getting angry I like to let her enjoy it.Then pop her straight in the bath. I swear by  Crayola washable paints. I have never not been able to wash them out. I can’t say that about any other “washable” paints. <— no they did not pay me to say that but that link is an affiliate link to amazon. 

One of the great things about color mixing is that it sparks more than a new color, it sparks that little voice inside that says ” I wonder what will happen …” That is the voice that has carried so many scientists to great discoveries and inventors to new technologies. Purple might not seem so amazing to us but it’s pretty rad for our little ones.

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/category/painting

Who says you have to use a plain old brush for painting?

Part of raising creative kids is setting them up to  use items in new ways, to look at something and wonder, “What can I make with that?!”

A great starting point is to expose them to simple projects likes these and create. Here are 39 different things you can paint with all with different painting activities for kids. Each item takes you to a full tutorial of a project where we used the specific tool.

1. Cookie Cutters
2. Noodles
3. Carrots and Zucchinis
4. Bouncy Balls
5. Toy Trucks
6. Potato Masher
7. Paper Towel Rolls ( and other recycling) 
8. Flowers
9. Animal Toys
10. Fly Swatter
11. Bubble Wands
12. Q-Tips
13. Bath Poofs
14. Feathers
15. Apples
16. Forks
17. Toy Trains
18. Glass Sponges
19. Combs
20. Marshmallows
21. Bugs
22. Corks
23. Mushrooms
24. Squeeze Bottles
25. Bubble Wrap
26. Blocks
27. Toothbrush
28. Easter Eggs
29. Salad Spinner
30. Kitchen Sponges
31. Bath Toys
32. Onions
33. Ribbons
34. Dish Scrubber
35. Mini Pumpkins
36. Turkey Baster
37. Gloves
38. Potatoes
39. Fingers!

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/category/painting