Play with Paint Brushes | Paint over with water | 1Spcl.

blog Tanushree Chandhok May 8, 2018

Funtastic Play Ideas: Paint Brushes

Play with Paint Brushes, In each article of this series, five different ways of playing with a toy will be discussed. Let’s begin to explore the games and enjoy ourselves!

This article explores play with: Paint Brushes. Paint brushes are available in different sizes, material etc. Based on the activity the different sizes of the brushes can be used.

1. Body parts.

Use a (clean) dry brush with thick bristles for this activity. Use two paintbrushes, one for the adult and the other for the child. Sit facing the child and talk about one body part at a time, for example, the arm. While talking about the body part, stroke it lightly with the paint brush. Allow the child to feel what you are talking about!

Sing songs about the body (such as head shoulder knees are toes) while using the paintbrush to allow the child to feel the body part spoken about.

Children love the ticklish feeling and fun this activity brings while learning concepts!

Note, this activity will not be suitable for children who do not like light touch.

2. Paint on ice

Ice cubes and paint (poster colors work well) are needed for this activity along with a paint brush. If the child’s eye-hand coordination and motor skills need improvement, use a thicker brush.

Let the child take a color on his/ her paintbrush and use it over the ice cubes. Ensure the paint is not too thin, else the colors would not be visible. Teaching colors is easy through this activity.

3. Excavating alphabets

Hide alphabets under sand. Use a paintbrush to dust the sand and uncover the hidden letters. Sort of like excavating the alphabets out.

Carrying this activity out along with your child be fun! Use reinforcing language such as – ‘Look what I found! Isn’t it wonderful! Such a fun find!’ while alphabets are being learned. Instead of alphabets, animals, numbers or even colored beads or marbles can be used.

4. Clean paint brushes

Use paintbrush cleaning pallets or create your own for this activity. Paintbrushes that are dirty should be used for this activity. This can, therefore, be done after a painting activity.

Allow the child to move the paintbrush over the pallet with running clean water. Let the child see how the color changes from dirty to clean. Allow him/her to move the brush in different directions to clean it (such as moving it up / down, right/left).

Encourage the child to learn and use words such as ‘dirty, clean, clear water, dirty water etc.’ or ‘up/down, left/right’.

A simple activity which is loaded with so much speech and language! A great opportunity to get communication going.

5. Paint over with water

This activity requires a blackboard, chalk, paintbrush and a mug of water. Write out letters, numbers or draw out easy shapes on the blackboard. The child should be assisted to dip the paintbrush in water and then trace the chalk marks.

This is a great activity to assist in motor skills, writing skills, eye-hand coordination, while also learning shapes/numbers or letters.

6. Make your own paintbrush.

Use cloth pins and clip different textures on it. For example, leaves, cotton balls, wool scraps, a chunk of grass etc. This can use the place of a paintbrush to paint different colors on paper or different platforms.

By involving the child in finding the different textures and describing the outcome of the painting – you can create immense opportunities to ‘talk’ to the child.

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For more ideas check out our other blogs