Craft Ideas For Kids - Nature Paint Brushes

Last week my son stayed home from school, needing a rest. It felt great to have time just with him without my 3 year old wanting to get involved.
We decided to do a little mark making project by creating our own nature paintbrushes.
We loved the different process involved in this project, from the foraging of materials, whittling the paintbrush sticks, creating unique brush heads and seeing the various marks they made when dipped in paint. All in all, a fantastic day of home creating.

You will need: wood carving knife, sticks (we used dogwood from the garden), string, paints & paper

1 - Forage for paint brush sticks, and possible paint brush heads.

2 - Whittle paintbrush sticks into straightish shapes.

 3 - Tie different brush heads onto your sticks (we tried feathers, ferns, wild flowers, cones).

4 - Prepare your paints and paper. We used Stockmar watercolours - I love the depth and variety of colour produced as well as the texture; it can be thick or very watery.

 5 - Start mark making.