You can do a lot more with paint than simply slapping it on paper with a brush. All kinds of fabulous pictures are guaranteed if you let the children discover for themselves just how versatile paint can be.
I once challenged a group to explore mixing substances with paint and was presented with, among other things, an interesting range of mud-based finger paints!
None of the following activities requires specialist materials and all the items used to create different effects are readily available in the home or out-of-school club setting.
COLOUR MIXING
Children who know how to mix colours can create a huge palette of different shades from just the three primary colours (blue, red and yellow), plus black and white.
Any shade of blue, red, and yellow can be mixed to make new colours, but some art suppliers recommend purchasing particular shades. If you plan to do a lot of colour mixing, it is worth following their advice so you will end up with more satisfactory greens and purples.
Find out what colour mixes children already know about; then introduce new techniques.
* Make the three secondary colours by mixing pairs of primaries:
blue + yellow = green
red + blue = purple
yellow + red = orange
Ask older children to make a chart using the + and = signs as a reminder
for the younger ones.
* Make pink, grey and brown:
red + white = pink
black + white = grey
red + yellow + blue = brown
Make different tones of brown by varying the mix of colours. A predominance of yellow makes a mustardy brown, a predominance of red makes a warm, russety brown, while a predominance of blue makes a dark, oily brown.
* Lightening and darkening colours:
Make colours lighter by adding white and darker by adding a tiny amount of black. You can also adjust the shade of a secondary colour by changing the ratio of the colours in the mix. For example, if you add more red to an orange mix it becomes darker, while adding more yellow makes it lighter.
As the children explore colour mixing, encourage them to think of ways to use a range of shades. For example, a painting of a tree is much more interesting if you include different greens and browns.
BLENDING COLOURS
This is a simple but very satisfying technique for creating some stunning colour blends:
Blob thick dollops of paint on to card, using two or three colours. Spread a layer of clingfilm over the paint and press gently with the fingers (most children love the feel of the squidgy paint!) Carefully drag the clingfilm off the paper and admire the resulting colour blends.
Choose appropriate colours and drag in different directions to create the effect you want:
* use red and yellow and drag upwards to make a fire
* use pale blue, white and a little pink and drag sideways to make a sky
* use greens and a little brown and drag sideways to make a river.
Safety note: always supervise children when using clingfilm.
ADDING SUBSTANCES
Create textures by mixing different substances with paint.
* Flour and white PVA craft glue: Flour mixed with paint makes a thick, paste covering. Spread on to card and use a notched rectangle of cardboard to produce wavy or zig-zag patterns in the paint. Turn the results into folders, book covers, picture frames or mounts.
You can also smear the mixture on to card and draw patterns in the paint, or create a texture that's great for depicting tree trunks or houses.
PVA glue also thickens the paint in a similar way to flour, but the resulting texture is smoother. Both flour and PVA paint mixtures are useful when you need to cover over a picture, such as the design on a shiny cereal box.
* Sand and sawdust: Sandy paint has a grainy texture. Mix it with yellow and grey for painting beaches and rocks, or dark red for painting roofs. To make a coarser texture, add sawdust to the paint.
* Glitter: Give sparkle to Christmas decorations by mixing glitter with paint. Go for silver with blue or dark colours such as green and try gold with white, red or yellow. Use lots of glitter. Add a small amount of PVA glue to ensure that the glitter sticks when the paint dries.
WATERY PAINT
There are lots of different effects that can be created with watered down paint:
* Using a teaspoon, make puddles of water on the paper. Drip slightly diluted paint into the water and watch as the colours swirl and blend.
* Paint directly on to wet paper with watered down paint so that the edges of the colours spread and merge. Use pale blue and pink to create a sky, or paint curved bands of colour to make a rainbow.
* Drip watery paint on to paper and use a straw to blow it into trails and star shapes.
Cartridge paper works well for these activities, because its less absorbent surface prevents the watery paint from sinking in too quickly.
USING A BRUSH
Assemble a collection of different sized and shaped brushes and encourage the children to explore the range of effects that can be created by using the various brushes.
* Stippling: Using a brush with short, coarse bristles, show the children how to stab it on the paper to make a grainy, stippled effect. This is a good technique for stencilling: cut out shapes within a square of card, Blue-Tak on to paper and stipple across the shape. Peel off to reveal the pattern.
* Fans: Use a brush with long soft bristles and press it sideways on the paper so that the bristles spread out to create fan shapes.
* Wet and dry: Load the brush with paint and make blobs. Continue using the brush as the paint gets used up so that you can see the bristles in the paint strokes. Get the children thinking about how they can use these different effects, for example, blobs of paint for eyes or balloons, dry brush strokes for animal fur.
* Splattering: This is best done outside! Load the brush with paint and flick it so the paint splatters across the paper. Experiment with different sized brushes and try splattering one colour across another.
SPRAYING PAINT
Spraying produces a more subtle effect than splattering and stippling. Dip a nail brush into a saucer of paint and run a blunt knife across the bristles above a sheet of paper, so that the paint sprays across the paper.
Unless you can work outdoors, place the paper inside a box to protect your surroundings - and your clothing!
You can also pour slightly diluted paint into a plant sprayer and mist it across paper. Experiment with spraying different colours across each other, and try using water-based metallic paints or fluorescent paint on black paper.
MAKING TRACKS
Use different items to make tracks and markings in the paint:
* Spheres: Use balls, oranges, large marbles or any other spherical item.
Put blobs of paint on the paper and roll the ball across them. For younger children, put the paper in the base of a box and tilt the box so that the balls can roll around, spreading and mixing the paint.
* Toy vehicles: Choose vehicles such as tractors with patterned wheel treads and run them across the paint.
* Brushes: Draw a toothbrush or scrubbing brush across the paint to make patterns of lines.
* Cotton wool etc: Make markings in the paint with substances such as cotton wool, pan scourers, feathers, wet paper towels or textured fabric such as muslin.
Challenge the children to find other items for making tracks and markings.
DRIP AND DRIBBLE
Dribbling paint directly from the bottle is a great technique for children who need to be on the move, particularly if you use a large piece of paper and work outside. Pour the paint from a squeezy pot, making lines, splodges and drips. Explore dripping from a height to make splashes, and once the children have got the hang of dribbling lines of paint, encourage them to create curves, wiggles and zigzags.
Again, take care and provide some protective cover if possible to keep paint from dribbling on to clothing and shoes.
PATCHWORK PAINT
Apart from livening up the children's free painting, paint effects can be used to make an attractive wall hanging. Simply reproduce each technique on a small square of paper and then join them together to make a patchwork, which is not only good for reminding children of all the possibilities they have discovered, but also helps to decorate the walls.
