We always enjoy a good, simple art activity around here!
I actually had these cotton balls earmarked for something else, and I wanted to dye them in rainbow colors. That turned out to be a little tricky, and while I was experimenting with cotton balls and liquid watercolors, I got the thought into my head that E would enjoy using the cotton balls as a canvas.
I quickly set her up with a few simple materials, and she got to work!
(E was 4 years and 4 months old.)
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Materials for Rainbow Art with Cotton Balls
- Cotton balls.
- Liquid watercolors.
- Eye dropper.
- Water (optional).
- Small cups or bowls for the watercolors.
- Baking dish, cookie sheet or tray to work on.
The first thing I realized was that we’d never done anything in rainbow colors. NEVER! I found it hard to believe, and I really think it was high time to fix that!
Together, we put a few squirts of watercolor into each applesauce cup and added some water.
I have to admit got a kick out of just looking at the cups with liquid watercolors.
I’m not entirely sure that E was similarly impressed – she couldn’t wait to put the cotton balls into the baking dish 🙂
When she had a good puffy layer, she got started with the red watercolors.
She actually used each color in turn from left to right, going in rainbow order.
Then, she started using random colors and accidentally mixed two of them. She knows about color mixing, of course, but for some reason, she found it hilarious this time.
She went ahead and mixed a few more colors – she did her best to make red more orange and purple more blue.
Since the watercolors were still pretty intense, even though I had diluted them with water, it really didn’t work as well as she’d hoped. She decided to go back to painting instead.
She experimented with shaking the eye dropper around while dropping the watercolors – I was impressed that most still ended up on the cotton balls, and we just had to wipe up a few stray drops of watercolor off the table in the end 😉
Absolutely lovely process art – but I keep thinking we could use the cotton balls for something else once they’re dry…
Have you tried making rainbow art? What have you used cotton balls for? Tell me all about it in the comments below!
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Shannon says
March 28, 2015 at 12:15 amThis looks fun! Were the cottonballs wet enough at the end to be able to do a “print” with paper as well? That would be a fun addition to this project if so! Definitely will have to try this one out, either way!
Tina {Simple Fun for Kids} says
March 30, 2015 at 9:31 amThank you, Shannon! No, the cotton balls didn’t get that wet for us. You’d need quite a lot of watercolors to get it to that point, I think. Cool idea, though, we may just try that in the future 🙂
Andrea says
April 27, 2015 at 9:44 pmI think It would look cool to take the cotton balls and glue them on paper to make a picture. They are too pretty to just throw away.
Tina {Simple Fun for Kids} says
April 30, 2015 at 10:02 amI agree, they’re so pretty! Thanks, Andrea!
Donna says
April 27, 2015 at 5:31 pmWhat about baking them when you’ve finished painting? Have you ever done cotton ball pounding? http://www.makingboysmen.com/2012/04/bashing-baked-cotton-balls-goggles.html
Tina {Simple Fun for Kids} says
April 30, 2015 at 10:04 amOh yes, I’ve seen that before but never tried it! Thanks for the inspiration, Donna!
swapna says
June 24, 2015 at 6:01 amThis looks like fun!
Tina {Simple Fun for Kids} says
June 25, 2015 at 10:55 amThank you, Swapna!