Have you ever received a package from Amazon with that wonderful brown packing paper inside? Rather than throwing it away immediately have you ever thought of using it for an art project?
I'm not usually very artsy, but when I receive a box with perfect art paper inside I can't help myself. One time when we got a particularly ginormous piece we spread it on the floor and had the
largest coloring page in the world.
That was fun. This time I hung the paper on the wall and decided to let the kids paint like true artists.
I cut off a couple of little squares from the box to make painting palettes for the kids. This was a spur of the moment stroke of genius that I don't normally enjoy, and I have to admit that I was pretty dang proud of myself for the idea. I used scissors to poke a hole in the corner like a real painter's palette.
The kids chose a few colors for their respective palettes...
...And then they painted.
Tommy painted monsters.
Lily painted Anna and Elsa in pink.
At the end we had a beautiful work of art already hung on the wall! They added to it a bit the next day and admired it each time they walked by.
*I highly recommend using washable poster paint for this. The kids were amazing at keeping the paint on the paper, but some of it did leak through the perforation and the sides. Smocks are also highly recommended (my old t-shirts in this case).
I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this! Packing paper is great for cave art, when they get a little older, too. :) And you can use it to make roads/cities for their matchbox cars.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! When we get a package the packing paper and the box are often more exciting than the contents that we ordered :)
ReplyDeleteI can't bear to just throw the packing paper away - we love to use it for big painting too!
ReplyDeleteEmma, love all your fun activities on your blog!
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