Painting at the Easel with Hand Drills

With the extreme weather this week, we have not been able to spend time outside. (When I say extreme, I mean that the windchill has been so cold that the local public schools have closed). With the extra indoor time, our easels have been busier than normal! Today, one of the "paintbrushes" of choice was a hand drill. The set up for this is quite simple, instead of using a drill bit-- screw a paintbrush into the drill, set out for exploration and... sit back and watch!

It usually takes a bit of concentration and tinkering to figure out how to make the drill work. Sometimes the paint never makes it onto the paper as it is quite engaging to spin the brush in the paint.

The drills are always available for us, and having them at the easel is a very different experience from painting with them on the table or floor. A different muscle set is required to hold the drill up to paint on the easel.

I cannot remember for sure where I first saw this idea, but I'm pretty sure it was inspired by Teacher Tom. What is your favorite item to set out for use to paint at the easel?

If you like to paint with non-traditional items- you may enjoy this older post I put together with a 101 Ways to Paint Without a Brush

or you may enjoy my Pinterest Board WE LOVE PAINT!

Looking for a hand drill???? You can find one here (affiliate link):

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What Would You Do With It? Wednesday #4, Cardboard Tubes (Toilet Paper, Paper Towel, etc)

Welcome to this week's edition of What Would You Do With It? Wednesday. This week's item(s) are paper tubes. You most often find them at the end of a roll of toilet paper or paper toweling. I'm having trouble hunting up the photos I was going to post for this, so when I find them, I will add them. We have made: rain sticks kaleidoscopes marble runs and we have also cut the tubes and made them into flowers or snowflakes like these. If you would like to visit and link to some of our previous What Would You Do With It Wednesdays, please click here.

Making Moon Mud!

We usually make our moon sand with cornstarch , sand, and baby oil. However a blog reader commented that when they make their moon sand- they use water instead of oil. So, of course, my first thought was- why make moon sand when you could make MOON MUD? And so you have it- our homemade moon mud! Basically, it ends up being a sandy- runny oobleck! It acts kind of like a solid- and kind of like a liquid..... Now, I'm sure I will get all kinds of questions on the exact recipe and proportions to make this stuff..... The truth is, we rarely measure. We just mix it up until it looks and feels about right! Today, we made ours with too much water. (It was an experiment.) So, we removed some off the top. After we were done playing in the mud- we let it sit. A little bit more of the water evaporated while we napped.... Then, this afternoon- It was perfect! Hard as a rock on the bottom, until you dig into grab it... Then....

Easter Egg Caterpillars!

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