Paper Towel Art

Coloured paper towels drying on rack

This is really a fill in we used at the end of a lesson yet I loved it so much I thought I would do a post on it.  Its a great idea to have on hand if you need to entertain your kids on a rainy day with little expense and its easy to set up.

This activity is a great example of process art as its the actual process that entralls the children, they can't get enough of dropping the colour onto the paper towels and watching the colour bleed.  Its also a great opportunity to do some colour theory.  Ask them what will happen if they now place a drop of red on top of some yellow etc.

Paper Towel Art

You will need:

• Food Colouring
• Pipettes (I buy mine from The Art Shed for $4 for a pack of 4)
• Paper Towel (the thicker more expensive stuff works better than homebrand)
• Newspaper to put the paper towel on if you don't want a coloured bench / table

How To:

• Mix the food colouring with water in some jars or cups
• Lay out a sheet of paper towel onto the newspaper
• Using the pipettes get the children to drop the colour onto their paper towels to make patterns
• Leave to dry

The Results:

Lots of lovely coloured paper towels.....

You may now ask well what do I do with a whole pile of coloured paper towels?  They could be used for paper mache projects, they could be used for cut paper projects or you could do what I did and make some cards & butterflies with them....

Coloured Paper Towels

Butterflies made from paper towels and pipecleaners

Card made from cut out paper towel (covered with a layer of Mod Podge to give it shine)

Cheers
Fiona