colored sticks: a ziploc bag painting project for little artists

when i saw this lovely colored sticks heart project i just wanted to give it a try. we collect sticks all the time, so it seemed like the perfect craft for us. painting sticks!

i saw another pin on pinterest in which paper leaves were placed in a ziploc bag for a no mess painting project. when painting on paper or canvas, i'm not so much worried about not making a mess. i find it is just part of the project. art! but painting something three-dimensional like a stick with little kids, well that's different, and a lot more difficult.

the ziploc bag idea was perfect for this! we chose different colos and squirted them into the ziploc bag, adding a little water. the kids loved kneading the bags and watching the colors blend! we then placed the sticks into the bag and continued kneading, more gently this time. after that we shook them onto a plastic bag (there is a newspaper on the photo but i took them off, seeing that the newspaper stuck to the sticks when the paint dried).

the last part of the project didn't really work out. i just didn't manage to get the heart together, i think my wire wasn't strong enough, the whole thing kept falling apart. so now the colored sticks are on our mantlepiece, sitting there and waiting for inspiration to strike as to what to do with them. in the meantime, they are perfect just for color matching and size matching games.