Painting on Burlap Cloth

We have tried plenty of art activities for kids on this blog and you can see the entire collection here. The kids especially enjoyed experimenting with bold colors when they were younger and we have done our fair share of kids art with acrylic paints and water colors like this color mixing grid or this fold and dye tissue paper art. Painting on Burlap Cloth Set up time : About 5 minutes Clean up time : About 5 minutes { if you line your art space with newspaper} Primary Materials

• Burlap Cloth
• Watered down acrylic paint
• Paint Brush Set
• Permanent Markers

Secondary Materials

• Rags or paper towels
• At least 2 bowls of clean water
• Newspaper to line the art space
• A spill tray { available at many stores}

The supplies mentioned above are items we always use for any art project involving paint. To minimize clean up and the number of times we run to the kitchen or bathroom we have the following items handy. A roll of paper towel or painter’s rags. We buy paper products from the dollar store to use in art activities. If you want to reuse and be environmentally friendly I would recommend buying a bag of rags from hardware stores. I purchased the burlap cloth from the craft store. But honestly you can reuse burlap you have lying around the house { from coffee grounds, produce sacks, gifts etc}

For any art activity we usually set out the supplies and invite the kids to give the activity a try. This art activity was quite straightforward forward and the children were excited to use a new type of canvas. They were eager to try painting on burlap cloth. They explored the rough texture of the cloth itself and were both curious to find out if this burlap cloth can be used in painting projects. The kids are very familiar with this material as they have received many gifts in cute little burlap sacks. I even mentioned that this is the material bulk rice and potatoes are sold. For this burlap painting activity we simply used acrylic paints from the craft store. I watered them a bit in small paint storage bottles which come in very handy with art activities. No wastage! Both the kids had a picture in mind that they wanted to try out on the burlap cloth. Here my older child used a permanent marker to draw a few flowers and started to color them in with watered down acrylic paints.

With this art activity that you don’t want to use any pattern that is too detailed, busy or intricate. You want to use big and bold designs since the paint has to go on the burlap cloth really thick.

The paint brush set we had a few print making tools too and the younger child was attracted to the sponge brush to make her grapes. She started off making a bunch of fruit pictures on her cloth. The bigger prints were well suited for this project.

We did a whole bunch of fruits and all I had to do was to remind them to keep it simple.

My older kid and I also tried our hand at just exploring with colors. It was great to see the burlap take in the bright acrylic colors. I would strongly recommend at least mildly diluting the acrylic colors as opposed to using the straight up from the bottle.

I definitely preferred the lighter colored burlap cloth over the darker one. However I can see depending on the colors used both have the potential to create wonderful wall art.

Finished fruit platter art.

Our design created for the sole purpose of exploring the colors on this fabulous cloth.

We have lot of others kids art activities planned with this burlap cloth. We are still figuring out fun ways to display the burlap painting art. Highlights

• Use thick strokes
• Better to keep the design simple. Not a project for details.
• Dilute the acrylic colors.