Monday 17 May 2010

Nature's Palette

Today we made paints from natural materials.  We tried three.  This is dandelion yellow in progress.  We crushed the petals with a pestle and mortar then added some patio chalk and crushed that up, then added some water.  We also did brown (mud) and green (mint leaves so it smelt nice too).  This is the painting in progress......
 
The brown and green worked the best.  Dandelion yellow was a bit pale, but then maybe we are just too used to gaudy bright manufactured paints!!  They left a nice texture on the card we painted on and definitely provided a sensory experience.  I want to continue exploring this with the children. I wonder if something could be made with cornstarch?
Here is suggests using paprika, chili powder, turmeric and ginger from dried ground spices.  It suggests using gum arabic from art shops to make a cake of paint that can be used like those palettes you can buy for children to use.  I've ordered some from e-bay tonight and we'll give it a go!

1 comment:

  1. Hayley - Little Explorers18 May 2010 at 12:21

    Hi Jenny,
    I sent you over a link yesterday for some great silhouette cards that I found online. There are 2 sets - animals and fruit/veg.

    Today I found some nice 3part cards on a frog from montessori print shop 2008. They are really good, so off on a mission to find some more downloads to set up my new classroom with :) Hope all is well with your family, Kind regards, Hayley of Little Explorers

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