Here is a really easy idea for you to make a beautiful canvas in a very independent way. This activity is a great one for learning about all of the colours of the rainbow. It provides a really good opportunity to explore the colours and to mix with the brushes. Have a go at creating secondary colours from red, blue and yellow (primary colours) too.
You will need:
- A plain canvas (white will make a lovely contrast to the bright colours.)
- Rainbow paints (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo (We used purple), Violet (We used pink).
- A sponge paint brush
- A variety of different sized paint brushes to try
- Pictures of rainbows for inspiration. (There are a couple in this article that you can look at together.)
- A cup of water
- Kitchen roll or paper towels
- Baby wipes (if you're not near a sink!)
- An old plate
Here are some ideas for you:
1.) Squirt a blob of each colour onto a plate. If you don't have all of the colours, have a go at mixing your own with the colours that you do have.
2.) If you want to include some handprints, you could do this first so that you get nice clean coloured prints before painting the background with swirls, dots and whatever else springs up into your imagination.
3.) Use a sponge brush to lightly apply a thin layer of paint onto your hand. You could do lots of different coloured hand-prints and you could arrange the hand-prints into an arc shape to create a rainbow of different coloured hand prints.
4.) To make the individual hand-prints like rainbows, you will need to dab the seperate colours onto the palm of your hand.
How will this help me to learn?
Using a variety of brushes and your hands means that you can explore different textures. Painting with your hands is a great sensory experience. Painting will also help you to develop fine motor skills which will help to prepare you for, and improve your, handwriting skills in school.
The squirting action is a good way to strengthen small hands and learning how to control the amount of paint that poured out was a challenge for us. I'm glad that we had the kitchen roll handy!
Calm and relaxing exploration
This activity was an absolute pleasure to do with C. He was so calm and relaxed as he concentrated on creating his masterpiece, which is now proudly displayed in his room.
Rainbows
Look at how you can blend the colours together:
Try mixing some water with your paints to create a more transluscent (see-through) water-colour effect:
We would love to see your Rainbow inspired arts and crafts. Please share and tag us on Instagram and Facebook using the hashtag #rainbowtreebox or email us. We would love to hear from you!
