We’ve been doing so much running around lately there hasn’t been much time for anything at home. I’ve had a few chances to peak over at The Crafty Crow and, my goodness, all of those Thanksgiving crafts are just making my head spin! Turkeys everywhere! So, with turkeys on the brain and straw painting on my never-ending list of things to do, we set forth to paint some turkeys!
I dropped the first small dollop of brown paint on the paper and demonstrated to Annabelle the proper straw-blowing technique. The hardest part for her in the beginning was not getting close enough with the straw.
I’ve had to hold off on doing this activity with her until I knew should could blow out through the straw and not suck in. As it turned out, she proved to me just how big of a girl she is getting to be. Not satisfied with simply picking out her own colors, she insisted on opening and pouring them herself. It blows my mind every time I see just how independent she can be.
I forgot to thin out our tempura paint, which made it a little harder to distribute the paint around, but I like the results. Although, it would be interesting to see how the turkey would come out with a runnier consistency. Let me know if you try it!
Added: I should have known better than to post something when I still had some lingering curiosity about it’s potential. So, I added some water to our paints and tried it again. Here are the results. I actually think I like this one better. I’m going to try it again with Annabelle and see how she does with it, but I wanted to go ahead and get this image up to show you the difference and let you decide which way you prefer.
Just to recap, all you do is drip some paint onto the paper, then point your straw at the paint and blow!
I am sorry for my ignorance…but how do you do the painting with the straw? I would love to do this with my son… thanks!
What a great idea! I need to head over to the crafty crow, I’ve been wanting to do something turkey-ish with the kids. I think I’ll try this with my 2 yr old too, she’ll love it!
Love the pics and thanks for sharing!
Julie- No apologies…I should have been more clear! Basically, you just drop a little paint on the paper then blow through the straw to make the paint disperse. I did one drop at a time but you could also put a bunch of drops all over and then watch them mix as the air from the straw spreads the paint all over. Thinner paint will move more faster and more easily, leaving you with more abstract results. Good luck!
How wonderful they turned out! And I do like the one with water, what a great idea! Thanks for sharing…my girls will think this is the funnest thing ever
we totally copied you today…and gave you some props - it will post tomorrow morning. If only I had your photography skills and a fancy-schmancy camera.
I’m loving all over you and your cute ideas.
My son (2 and 9 months old) just made the blowing paint, but without the straw, he had a lots of fun!! And I never thought that they can use straw too, thanks for giving me a good idea for that. Will try some times next week.
Are you using food coloring or just normal paint?