Learning

Teacher tips: fun with paint, clay and fabric

Summary: Teachers share their ideas for working with art and craft materials

• Ideas for paint
• Ideas for clay
• Ideas for fabric and yarn

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Ideas for paint

Painting on foil

Paint on the shiny side using free flowing paint mixed with glue. More glue to paint gives a translucent effect. More paint to glue gives an opaque finish. Use the same mixture to paint on different surfaces - try acetate, cellophane or Perspex.

Spin pictures

Place a paper plate in the bottom of a salad spinner. Use pipettes or squeezy bottles with nozzles, to dribble liquid paint onto plate. Replace lid and spin.

Make sure to get the right sized plates, as they need to sit snugly in the basket. This is a great way of starting to look at colour mixing.

Pass the paint

If you are fortunate enough to have space to suspend a coffee tin from a piece of string so that it hangs about chest height in the middle of a circle of children, then try this:

• Bodge some holes into the bottom of the tin using a large nail and hammer. Cover the holes with strips of duck tape. Also make a hole on either side of the tin near to the top. Use these to attach two lengths of string long enough to fasten securely to the point you have chosen to suspend the tin from. Extra stability can be gained by knotting the string together about 70 cms from the top of the tin.
• Then either tape several large sheets of paper together or use an old cotton sheet and spread this on top of protective floor covering underneath the tin. Make sure all children are properly prepared for this messy activity - probably best to remove shoes and socks!
• Let the children form a circle around the paper. Then fill coffee tin about a quarter full with free flowing liquid paint. Remove tape from holes and gently swing the tin across the circle. Make sure to always use the child’s name before passing the tin to them. They in turn must call out a name before they send the tin across.

This is a fun activity but it needs quite a lot of preparation. Consider doing the preparation the day before. To make the tin more visible, cut open a coloured plastic bag and tape this around the outside. White paint on a black surface provides good contrast.

Spray painting

Spray bottles can be purchased or salvaged. Bear in mind that thorough washing out of any cleaning fluids is absolutely essential before use with children. I would suggest that any bottles that may have contained substances such as bleach be discarded.

Use watered down liquid paint to spray onto large sheets of paper or hang a large piece of fabric on a washing line and allow several children to work together. Use an easel or attach paper to a wall so that children keep bottles in an upright position.

Making gloop

To make about half a bucket of gloop you will need a couple of large boxes of cornflour, water and food colouring. Simply add water and colouring to cornflour a little at a time until the mixture is firm in the bucket yet runny when handled. Pour gloop into an easily accessible container such as a water trough and allow children to explore. Add a few drops of peppermint or almond oil to add another sensory dimension.

Crazy foam

Use clean paint pots and squeeze a generous amount of shaving foam into each. Then add a few drops of liquid watercolour and mix. This adds a new dimension to finger painting and smells good too!

Mud glorious mud

This is not for the faint hearted - you have been warned! Take a bag of soil based compost and empty it into an old water play trough or similar vessel. Add water, children (suitably clothed of course) and stand back! Great as an outdoor summer activity, I suggest it be followed by water play for cleanest results! Garden pictures can be made by adding a quantity of PVA glue to mud and smearing it on to stout paper or card. When dry, children can find seed pods, dried grasses and other natural materials to stick on.

Ideas for clay

This is a great material that is often under-used. Don’t be put off by not having a kiln. Self hardening clay is an alternative if you want to make items last, although it does lack some of the qualities of real clay. Real clay is available in a variety of colours and textures. ‘Grogged’ clay has fine particles added which give it a gritty feel whilst red clay is smooth and pliable. A lump of clay left in half a bucket of water for a couple of days breaks down into a wonderfully sloppy mixture, which is great fun to play with.

Clay printing

Flatten a piece of clay with hands or rolling pin. Make impressions into the surface with a variety of tools or use fingers. Use rollers to apply paint to the surface of the clay. Take a print by smoothing a piece of paper on top. If the surface of the clay is a little rugged after the children have pressed into it, gently tap the high spots. It is not necessary to discard the clay after such an activity as the print should take up most of the paint and the rest can be kneaded back into the clay. Add some glue to the paint to give a better consistency for printing.

Clay moulds

You will need clay, casting plaster and shallow containers. Aluminium pie trays or take-away food containers are ideal as these have the right sort of depth and can be easily torn away. Squash clay into the bottom of the container, thick enough to cover the surface but leaving enough room to pour plaster into. Then press objects into it to form indentations - try using fingers, tools, and natural objects such as shells or everyday objects such as forks and spoons. Take a bucket or bowl and roughly estimate how much water you would need to fill all of the containers to the top. Then gently sprinkle cupfuls of plaster into the middle of the water. Keep doing this and eventually a mound will form in the centre. Once this appears just above the surface of the water without collapsing, start to mix the plaster with one hand. Always keep one hand plaster-free for emergencies! There is no reason why the children shouldn’t have a go at stirring the plaster with their hands - because of the chemical reaction taking place, the plaster will even start to feel warm. At this point, pour plaster into moulds and leave to dry before removing. Try using pump sprays or big brushes to decorate plaster casts.

Consider working on a group cast. Use a large board and flatten slabs of clay onto the surface. Let children work together at this and at the decorating. When they are satisfied, build a watertight wall around the shape using more clay and sealing any gaps. Wet plaster is difficult to stop once it starts to pour out (believe me, I know!). Once you have checked all around the ‘wall’, mix plaster and pour into mould. This may take some time to dry thoroughly so make sure you have somewhere to put it.

If you have room to store two plastic lidded dustbins, consider buying clay and plaster in large quantities from a ceramics supplier. Both items are cheaper in bulk than in small commercial packets. They last very well if kept in airtight containers. Clay that has been used with plaster should not be fired as it can explode!

Ideas for fabric and yarn

Magic fabric

This needs considerable preparation as you need to make the ‘magic fabric’. In this activity you will use potassium permanganate crystals to dye a length of white or light coloured 100% cotton fabric. This must be done away from the children, as the crystals are poisonous and mildly caustic. Don’t be put off by this but do take precautions. You will need a heatproof container such as a galvanised bucket or bath that can be heated on a cooker. Rubber gloves and an apron should be worn at all points during the preparation stages. Cover surrounding areas with newspaper, as the mixture will stain.

Now heat enough water to cover a length of fabric but don’t put fabric in yet. Measure crystals into an old heatproof jug, about 1 teaspoon per 100gms of fabric - don’t be too generous as the fabric will corrode and fall into holes if the mixture is too strong. Add a small amount of boiling water, enjoy the lovely magenta colour as the crystals dissolve then stir into dye-bath. Wet fabric, squeeze out excess water and gently place into the simmering dye bath. Move fabric around for about 4 minutes. Remove the fabric and watch as oxidisation takes place when it comes into contact with the air. The fabric will turn brown - don’t worry if it’s patchy as this all adds to the effect. Rinse with cold water and leave to dry.

The fabric may need to be ironed with a moderate heat before use but don’t iron too hot as the colour may fade. Now present the children with the fabric - let them handle it and discuss its properties. Draw their attention to its all over colour. Now squeeze the juice from a couple of lemons and mix with a little ready mixed wallpaper paste (but not one that contains fungicide). The children can now paint or print this mixture onto the fabric using printing blocks on other objects. After a few minutes, white patterns will emerge as if by magic. Draw the children’s attention back to the fabric from time to time so that they can observe the changes.

Mesh weaving

Attach a piece of widely spaced wire or plastic mesh to a wooden frame or other suitable object. Use plastic to attach wire mesh. Make a wide variety of materials such as thick wool, fabric strips, plastic bag strips and string available to the children so that they can weave in and out or poke through the mesh. A large piece can be left in position so that children can come back to it over a period of time adding to it, as they desire.

String printing

Gather together a variety of yarns that have different qualities, eg thick garden string, rope and chunky wool. Cut generous lengths so that the children can hold one end and reach the floor with the other. Cover an area of floor with protective sheet and place large sheets of paper on top. Choose liquid paint that will give a good contrast with the paper and pour into tray. Let the children dip one end of the string into the paint and allow them to trail it across the paper. Removing children’s shoes and socks is strongly advised for this activity!

Sticky tape stencils

A lot of young children love using sticky tape. Provide them with a range of tapes differing in thickness. Masking tape is easily ripped but sellotape and parcel tape need to be snipped, which is great for encouraging early cutting skills. Let the children stick tape onto pieces of fabric. Make plain, patterned or textured fabrics available to choose from. When they are satisfied with their arrangements, show the children how to apply colour to the fabric using sponges or thick brushes. Paint with PVA or acrylic medium added is suitable for most fabric painting activities. When fabric is touch dry, blot with kitchen roll, remove tapes and reveal stencilled patterns. Make sure there is sufficient contrast between fabric colour and paint for best results.

Extend this idea to using shapes cut from sticky back plastic. Provide children with narrow lengths of this material so that they can easily cut shapes with one or two snips. Most children at the Foundation Stage will need adult help to remove paper backing.

Fabric paints and markers

Lovely effects can be achieved using fabric paints to firstly colour fabric and then draw on top with thick black marker pens. I used this idea to make a large wall hanging with a reception class. They drew pictures of their faces onto the coloured fabric after first looking at themselves in a mirror. It was great to see that many of the children were able to draw their features that made them different from each other - curly hair, glasses and so on. Using the hand mirrors made them more aware of how they looked.

Fabric mache

This is a similar activity to papier-mache, when strips of paper are layered on top of a balloon or similar shape. This activity requires fewer layers and by using a blow up beach ball it is easier for young children. Soak manageable sized pieces of fabric or string in wallpaper paste, and encourage the children to smooth these over the surface of the ball. Try and encourage them not to cover the blow up point on the ball. When completely dry, deflate the ball. You may need to make a larger hole than the children have left in order to pull the ball out. The end result is a hand made ball with a lovely range of textures!

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Last updated: 20/11/2008 11:13