I have a few little budding artists at my house which is a thrill to me because my oldest son wanted nothing to do with anything artsy at all. He drew stick figures in art class through the 8th grade. My 7 year old Jack in particular loooveeees art and wants to be an Artist/Scientist when he grows up.
Of course I'm biased being mom and all but I think that all 3 of my little ones are pretty talented little artists and am more than happy to indulge them in their hobby. I prefer to find as many unique ways of turning every day items into art which is and of itself artful in my opinion. We experiment with different textures such as flour, rice and cornstarch and for an occasional change from paint brushes we use cotton balls, our fingers and celery instead. Fun!
So, I was trying to think of a cheap way to make an easel for the kids and thought first of finding some scrap wood at Lowe's but never was industrious enough to follow through on that plan. So I hit up Pinterest for some ideas and found a simple and FREE (my 2 favorite words) tutorial on an easel made out of a cardboard box.
Basically, you find an old box and cut off the top and bottom flaps, one side and fold it into a triangle turning it into a perfect prop to paint on.
Make sure you choose a box big enough for your paper to fit on. Any size paper and box will do, I chose extra large and thick paper to soak up the paint.
Cut off the top and bottom flaps and one of the 4 sides of the box.
Fold the box into a triangle and tape together with box tape.
Secure your drawing paper onto the box with 2 pieces of scotch tape.
Note: We were out of our usual paints and so I grabbed this paint at the grocery store today. It would be much more economical to buy your paint in larger tubes at Walmart or a craft store. Use an old plastic yogurt or cottage cheese top or a plastic egg carton to put small dabs of paint on.
Mona Claire had so much fun at our pre-school art session today while the boys were at school. She loved her new easel and thought using the end of a stalk of celery to paint roses was such a cool trick!
Save those scrap pieces of cardboard for other fun crafts! Busy hands are happy hands! ;)
Here are some amazing blogs with some really fun crafts using cardboard.
Celery Painting!
What fun craft/pre-school ideas do you do with your kids?
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