I am so excited to announce a NEW weekly Paint and Play Series that I am doing with my sweet friend Crystal from Growing A Jeweled Rose. Each Wednesday, we will be posting exciting and sometimes messy process art projects.  The focus for this series is all about the process, having fun and getting kids excited to create art!  Each week we will be choosing a topic and then both of us will post fresh ideas centered around the chosen topic.

To kick off our series, we are both sharing ideas all about Painting with Balloons and creating engaging process art that your kids will love.

Balloons are one of those things that you never grow out of.  They are perfect for indoor games, creating paper mache, launching as balloon rockets  and seeing who can make the best ear piercing squeaky noise.  You know the sound I’m talking about.  The one that most parents cringe when they hear:)  Check out how much fun we had painting with balloons.

……………………………………………………………

Painting with Air from a Balloon

My kids had a blast painting with the air from a balloon.  For our first balloon painting activity we tried our hand at Balloon Blow Painting.

Materials needed for Balloon Blow Painting:

• Cardboard
• Paint ~ we used acrylics
• Balloons
• Straws
• Tape

The kids squirted paint onto a thick piece of cardboard.  We used ours straight from the paint tube and layered it on nice and thick.  Having a thick layer of paint, makes it easier for the air from the balloon to move the paint.

Next the kids placed a straw inside the balloon and secured it with tape.  Once they made sure they had a good seal and no leaks, they blew the balloon up with the straw.

Now all you have to do is aim the straw at the paint and let the air out.  The air will blow the paint around and create amazing swirled patterns.  You can either just let the air escape through the straw or squeeze the balloon and “forced” the air out.  The kids found both techniques to work well.

It was so fun to watch the paint swirl and mix on the cardboard.

The kids also tried blowing the paint with just the balloon and no straw.  Also a fun technique.  I love all the tiny waves of paint it creates.  We will be trying this again soon.  The kids loved painting with air!

……………………………………………………………

The next activity we tried was Balloon Drip Painting.  This took a bit more setup, but the process was just as fun!

Materials needed for Balloon Drip Painting:

• Film canister or similar container
• Nail
• Balloon
• Large sheet of paper or cardboard
• Paint ~ we used Acrylic

We used a film canister to contain our paint and poked a hole in the bottom of it with a nail.   Any container would work, as long as the balloon will stretch over the opening and you can poke a hole in the bottom of it.

Make sure to hold your finger over the hole when you fill it with paint, or you will end up with a huge mess:)  Each paint we used was a little different consistency  but you want your paint thin enough to drip out, but not run straight out the hole.  However, if your paint is too thick or it won’t drip at all.  We found that about 70% paint and 30% water worked the best for us.  We used acrylic paint, but I’m sure that tempera paint would work great too:)

Once you have the canister full of paint, stretch a blown up balloon over the top of the canister.  This may require 2 people.  One person to keep their finger over the hole so the paint does not drip out and one to stretch the balloon over the canister.

When you are ready to start painting, simply remove your finger and let the drips begin.

The kids loved this process!  We did ours indoors because of the weather, but I think this would make a fun backyard art project.  If you have a number of film canisters laying around, one of our favorite art projects so far has to be our Exploding Art.  It is a fun summer art project with a little science thrown in for good measure.

 ……………………………………………………………

Don’t forget to hop on over to  Growing A Jeweled Rose and check out all the amazing fun they had creating with their balloons.

 ……………………………………………………………

We had so much fun Painting with Air!

Make sure you stop back in next week for more Play and Paint!

If you love process art like us, then check out my Painting Without Brushes Pinterest board.  It is packed full of fun ideas.  I would love to hear how you have used balloons to create or play with your kids.

If you don’t want to miss out on any of the fun we are having at Housing A Forest, make sure to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Google + and Twitter.

Tammy