Plastic Egg Watercolor Prints

These pictures are from last spring; I just never got around to posting them. I, however, just added this activity to our to-do calendar for this week. It's one of those art activities that we do almost every year. It's simple, process oriented, and one that kids will enjoy no matter their age. 

Supplies: plastic eggs, paper, black tempera paint, watercolors, paint brush, and water.

* A little tip, I found that using tube watercolors, like these, work a lot better than watercolor cakes. While more expensive at first, they end up begin a better bargain because you can limit the color choices and paint. This way you aren't ruining a whole tray because of mixing or because some little hand started using the paint brush to dig at the cake. You will need to plan ahead, the tube paint needs to dry before being used. I usually put a few squirts of each color in an discard egg carton or on plastic lid. 

* If you don't have watercolors, you can adapt this activity by using by using crayons, colored pencils, or markers instead. 

Step 1: dip the plastic eggs in black tempera paint and cover your paper in circle prints.

Step 2: after the prints have completely dried, fill them in with your watercolors.

*My kids were/are a little heavy handed with their paint. If possible, you want to encourage them to start small and build the color up if they want it darker/brighter. This will also allow them to blend the paint and create new colors. 

And that's all the steps! Not much direction needed but it should give them a chance to flex their creative muscles and keep their  little hands busy for a half-hour or so. 

Please, check out our homeschooling page for more craft and educational ideas.