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Berry Basket Painting

Apr 22, 20135,241 views
Art Projects
Art Activities: Berry Basket Painting Save
Berry Basket Painting Save
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by TurkeyMom in Art Projects

Ages3–7 yrs
Prep15 min
Activity20 min
Leveleasy
MessLow
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Cut the sides of a plastic strawberry basket into grid stencils, then fill in the little squares with watercolors to make colorful block designs. It's an open-ended art activity using only two major supplies: berry baskets and paint.

⚠️ Safety first

  • An adult cuts the berry baskets. Cut plastic edges can be sharp or pointy, so trim or check them before handing stencils to kids.
  • Supervise painting and keep paint and brushes away from mouths.

Before the kids arrive

  • Cut the sides off plastic berry baskets to make flat square or rectangular grid stencils. One basket made 5 stencils for us.
  • Trim any sharp plastic points left from cutting.

Steps

  1. Lay a berry basket stencil flat on a sheet of paper and set out watercolors, markers and small brushes.

  2. Hold the stencil still with one hand.

  3. Wet a small flat brush, pick a color and fill in one square with one stroke.

  4. Choose the next color and think about which one looks good next to the last.

  5. Keep filling squares with an assortment of colors until you like the design.

  6. Lift the stencil off and admire your painting!

  7. Try rectangular stencil pieces and paint a block design together with a grown-up.

Tips

  • Use a small flat brush so that one stroke fills in one square or rectangle. That keeps the interest in the art activity longer.from the author
  • This can be a good chance to teach patterns and color recognition. We talked about complementary and contrasting colors while we painted.from the author
  • It's open ended, with no rules and no directions to follow. Kids love it, and it's fun to watch their little minds make choices and decisions independently.from the author
  • No activity is complete when mom doesn't play and create with the kids, so paint one together!from the author

Make it your own

  • Use rectangular basket pieces for block painting.
  • Paint a big sheet together from separate sides. Ours came together on its own and looked like a robot!
  • Color in the squares with markers instead of paint.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · April 2013
art activity for kids with berry basket
I used our strawberry baskets and cut up the sides to make 5 square stencils. With watercolors, markers and small tipped paint brushes I invited my 4 year old to create.
1 / 7

Berry Basket Painting: the original post

We have yet another open ended art activity this time using berry baskets. Art activities from recycled materials are very fun and satisfying. We have in the past always tried to use recyclables for most of our craft and art projects. We have made paper roll castles and paper roll airplanes. We have done art activities using tin cans and egg cartons. What’s fun about this art activity is that it needs only 2 major supplies - cut up berry baskets and paint. That’s it.2 supplies! I used our strawberry baskets and cut up the sides to make 5 square stencils. With watercolors, markers and small tipped paint brushes I invited my 4 year to create using the berry basket stencil. art activity for kids with berry basket

She usually gets pretty psyched with open ended art activities simply becase there are no rules and no directions to follow. I bet all kids love open ended kids activities. She painted a bunch of squares with an assortment of colors. This time my pattern loving child went free form! ok ok I know I should cut her nails..! painting with berry baskets This may be a good opportunity to teach patterns and color recognition. We just painted and while talking about complementary colors and contrasting colors. Everytime she chose a color she took a second to analyze which other color would look good next to the previous one. Well in her mind black and brown go together, blue and purple go together. That’s the fun part in open ended art activities and love to see her little mind work and make choices and decisions independently.

painting with berry askets art projects Once satisfied with the design, remove the stencil and admire!

I should mention while painting squares it is better to use a small flat brush so that with one stroke one square/rectangle is filled in. That keeps the interest in the art activity longer.

berry basket art projects

No activity is complete when mom doesn’t play/create with the kids. So we had to do one block painting together. We used rectangular ones this time.

block printing with paint

This creation came together on its own. It was so cool! My 4 year old and I created blocks on separate sides and once we were almost done she squealed ” Looks like a robot to me mom”. May be!

open ended art activity

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