Making little aqua creatures with watercolour paints is a great fun art activity for many reasons. It is creative as it inspires the imagination; it engages the respiratory system as it has a positive impact on children’s speech. It is an art form as the use of watercolours is a form of artistic expression, perfect for mixing colours and playing with the colour saturation and its transparency.
MATERIALS
- watercolour paper (it absorbs water very well, it’s thicker and has an irregular surface texture making paints absorb into paper instead of sliding on the surface)
- watercolours
- cup with clean water
- palette – optional
- pipette / dropper
- drinking straw
- fineliner pen / marker / fountain pen with black ink
Instruction
Draw up some clean water into the pipette and dispense it onto the palette; next draw up some watercolour paint and dissolve it in water in one of the palette’s wells. Repeat this action a dozen or so times (depending on how many colours you want to use). You can also skip the palette part and dispense water drops from the pipette straight on the paper; afterwards dab single droplets carefully with a brush that has been dipped in the colour of your choice.
After the water has absorbed the paints, use a straw to blow the colourful drops. When you’ve created several blotches, put the paper aside for a dozen or so minutes and let it dry – make sure it dries thoroughly. Let your imagination tell you what each blotch represents to you (an animal, a person, an alien, or perhaps a spaceship?), and on a completely dry blotch sketch those outlines. You’ll manage to create a whole story on your sheet of paper, and that would help the child practice causal reasoning and speech skills as they could tell their story to everyone.
