Painting Stripes with Young Children

 

This is a variation of the handprint painting that my previous students did. I wanted children to do something different this year instead of randomly paint the background in different colours. I knew it'll be hard for young children to paint patterns for the background by themselves so I thought of the easiest way for them to do that.

The easiest thing that came to mind was using masking tape to create lines. Previously I had used masking tape to make letters for their names. So this was how my prekinders painted the stripes for their handprint.

1. If you want straight lines then stick the masking tape in straight lines across the canvas. I didn't want it to be so uniform so I tilted each tape a bit.

2. This is the important part. Instruct children to take one paint colour and only use that to paint in one section of the canvas. Wash their brush.

3. Use another paint colour to fill in the next section and so on, making sure that children wash their brush in water before switching colours.

This is the toddler class' paintings (3 year olds). They don't remember to wash their brushes (even with me reminding them ) and the paints got mixed. If I hadn't stop them then all their canvasses would have been totally green.

4. Leave the canvas to dry before peeling off the masking tapes.

5. To continue with the handprint painting: Paint children's hand in black and place it on the canvas, pressing down firmly. Lift and let dry.

This is the prekinder's paintings (5 year olds). Most of them followed instructions to wash their brushes and so you can see the different colour stipes.