Art project testimonial

Yesterday afternoon, we hosted an artsy playdate with two new friends.  Before they came over, I flipped through the Autumn Crafts ebook from Artful Parent, and the tie-dye leaf project grabbed my eye.  Simply drip liquid watercolors* or food colouring onto coffee filters cut into basic leaf shapes, and watch the colors spread and mingle.  So easy and oh-so-fun!

 

 Some comments direct from the kiddos:

"This is soooo cool."
"Ooooo, did you see that?"
"Isn't mine the most magicalest leaf in the whole world?"



When my little one initially soaked each leaf with color, I tried to shift her to painting with her watercolor set, but that was far less satisfactory.  The colors were not nearly so intense, and they didn't spread as well.  The drip method was much more exciting.  Even the paper towels we put beneath each coffee filter look amazing.  We have no idea what we want to do with them, but we don't really want to throw them away.  Collage fodder, perhaps?

As for the leaves, we ran them through the sewing machine and made a garland for the girls' room.



My 4 year old is obsessed.  She loves this, loves with a capital M as in "Must Do This Right Now."  We were back at it right after dropping off Big Sister at school.



The possibilities for this are pretty limitless, but don't overlook the easiest one of simply dripping color onto a plain old coffee filter.  The water makes the curves of the filter flatten out, so you'll have big circles in the end.  The special paper makes the liquid spread so well, and the kids love that effect far more than they care about the shapes.  Enjoy!

*I had seen posts about similar projects on Jean's blog in the past, so I knew I wanted to own liquid watercolors and droppers.  I ordered them from Discount School Supply, using the link through her site to support Artful Parent.  Thanks for the inspiration, Jean!