I was excited to try this idea out with Kay. She's always open to a bit of process art and if it's messy, all the better!
I filled up some plastic eggs with washable tempera paint, adding a splash of water to each one. Since they have holes on both ends, I didn't deliberately mix the paint and water, just quickly closed them up and set them on a plate.
My one mistake was trying this on a windy-ish day. Not a smart idea. The paper kept flying away, so we held it down with a rock.
I filled up some plastic eggs with washable tempera paint, adding a splash of water to each one. Since they have holes on both ends, I didn't deliberately mix the paint and water, just quickly closed them up and set them on a plate.
My one mistake was trying this on a windy-ish day. Not a smart idea. The paper kept flying away, so we held it down with a rock.
We love our plastic egg play around here and I was inspired by Teach Preschool's crack the egg painting activity. Crack an egg with paint inside? Ooh, that sounded fun. But Kay would want something a little more...active.
How about throwing the eggs at paper so they crack open?
Oh, yes. That would be perfect!
How about throwing the eggs at paper so they crack open?
Oh, yes. That would be perfect!
Kay was excited to get started. I told her to shake each egg before she threw (so the water and paint would be mixed together). She took an egg and tossed it gently onto the paper. "No, throw it hard!" I encouraged.
She tried again and got better results. Even the eggs that didn't crack the first time (oh, don't worry, she went back and tried them until they cracked!) left splatters of paint from the holes at each end. (So those holes actually came in handy!)
Notice the paper blowing in the wind. NOT a windy-day activity!
Most of the paint stayed inside the eggs (a little more water would have helped) but it was fun anyway and I love the splatter design. Kay, I think, just liked getting the okay to throw something - hard. (Don't say I didn't warn you: the splatters make this a messy one. I made the mistake of leaving my camera on the chair next to the paper. You can imagine what happened.)
It left a lovely splatter design on the paper...and the wall...and the chair...and my camera!
Tinkerlab, a wonderful blog that's all about encouraging creativity in children, hosts a challenge every other month. This time around the material was eggs - plastic, real, wooden, you name it. We had fun with this one and look forward to more challenges in the future! (For more info and how you can participate, too, check out the Egg Creative Challenge!)
