Painted Sticks Craft
If your kids are like ours, they love to explore the great outdoors. They may need a little prodding to put those devices aside but once they get outside, the fun seems to expand. That’s one of the reasons we love to find creative projects that draw from nature. And who doesn’t really like playing with sticks and stones?
Truthfully, whenever I am with any of the grandkids for a period of time, I seem to have some activity or craft that involves sticks or stones. Maybe it’s mostly me who loves the sticks and stones! But, back to our project. This fun and creative activity can be done totally outdoors, with collecting and painting done like a camp craft. Or, collect the sticks and then paint indoors once the kids are ready for a quiet activity. Either way, it’s a fun family craft project and it’s so interesting to see how everyone interprets the painting of their sticks.
What You Need:
- Small twigs, 6 – 12″ long
- Garden clippers
- Paint brushes
- Acrylic paints
What to Do:
- Gather small twigs that range in size from about 6 inches to 12 inches. This, of course, is just a suggestion and kids can paint smaller or larger sticks if they want. But for a grouping of painted sticks in a small vase or clear glass, the 6 to 12 inches works well.
- If there is loose bark on the sticks, just rub two sticks together to remove the bark. Tight bark is not a problem once the paint is applied.
- Depending on your vision (or the child’s vision), your can remove extra branching pieces from your sticks or leave intact. Cut off undesired pieces using garden clippers.
- Set up a painting station on the table, or picnic table. You will need a small container of water to rinse brushes between colors, a few paper towels, several size brushes and paints, of course.
- Squeeze a bit of paint for each color to be used onto a paper plate.
- Paint solid sticks, striped sticks or dotted sticks. To make small dots, just dip the end of one of your brushes into paint and dot onto the stick.
