Easy Art Projects for Kids - Homemade Paint Brushes

How to make homemade brushes with yarn - big art for kids

We are almost two weeks late posting our latest easy art projects for kids, an art series we are enjoying with several of our kid bloggers. We were away visiting family, but I didn't want to miss this fun topic! This week's theme is string art. So far we have made erupting watercolor absorption art while exploring with watercolors, tape resist art on foil while exploring resist art, and melted crayon art in the glue gun while experimenting with crayons. I recently ordered some gorgeous and colorful acrylic yarn, so my first thought was to do something with yarn for our string art theme. We love painting with unique materials and making homemade brushes, so I decided to set up a simple invitation to paint with homemade yarn paint brushes.

How to Make Homemade Paint Brushes

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Supplies:

Directions: To make the homemade paint brushes I layered a large amount of yarn in my hand, waving it back and forth while keeping the length of each strand even. Once I had enough I tied it to a wooden dowel. We used the wooden dowels that we use as rhythm sticks. After tying the yarn to the dowel I spread it around to make sure it hung off of the dowel evenly. Then I secured the knot with a rubber band. The find step was to trim the yarn to get even strands and to cut off the loops that occurred while layering the yarn in the first step.

I made each homemade paint brush in varying lengths, so the boys could experiment and see the different prints that resulted.

Homemade paint brushes made from yarn - easy art projects for kids

I spread out two large pieces of butcher paper and squirted tempura paint on it next to the yarn paint brushes. I used paint cans we had handy as weights to hold the butcher paper down and keep it from blowing away or rolling.

Painting with yarn - how to make giant homemade paint brushes

My boys were playing inside while I set up, and the look on their faces when they saw the invitation was priceless!

It was cool to see how the different brushes worked.

The homemade brushes with longer yarn seemed to hold a large amount of paint, so you could whack the paper again and again leaving colorful prints behind.

My favorite part was watching the colors blend together.

Making yarn prints with homemade paint brushes

Our play space was large enough that there were several different areas of blended colors. I love the gorgeous art they created!

When they needed more paint JZ (6) spread some more out over the paper.

This was one of those art projects that literally went on for over an hour. The paper became more and more colorful as the colors were layered and splattered. I love collaborative art projects.

Homemade yarn paintbrushes - big art for kids

After awhile painting turned into this. JZ and J-Bug (5) called it "ice skating painting". It reminded me of our body paint slip and slide which originated as fly swatter painting. I love watching these projects evolve.

Of course it was an incredibly messy art project. Here are tips for messy playas well as laundry tips to avoid stains and keep clothes bright. Please note: Some areas of our driveway didn't rinse clean despite the fact that we used washable paint. I don't worry too much, because my husband can easily wash them with his power washer. If staining is a concern I highly recommend layering a splat mat under the butcher paper. Shower curtains from Dollar Tree work great for this. Old towels would also work.

I set up a bin of warm, soapy water nearby for easy cleaning after play. Once the boys were through painting and sufficiently rinsed off, we went straight upstairs to the bath. Of course my twin toddlers thought the bin of soapy water was every bit as fun as the painting project.