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Create festive and colorful firework patterns from a few common household items! In the process, your child will practice creative tool use, pattern recognition, and fine motor skills.
What We’re Learning & Skills We’re Building
- Creativity – making unique art from different materials
- Fine motor skills – using the small muscles in the hands to grip and twist pipe cleaners together
- Tool use – using pipe cleaners to create a new tool for stamping
- Pattern recognition – seeing the repetition of shapes and lines made from the pipe cleaner firework stamp
Materials
- Pipe cleaners (cut into smaller pieces or bent in half)
- Paper plate or pie tin for holding paint
- Non-toxic, washable tempera paint
- Cardstock, printer paper, or construction paper
- Art tray or baking sheet for working on top of
Optional Materials
- Toothpicks or child-safe forks
- Washable markers, crayons, or colored pencils
- Paintbrushes
(Note: If you don’t have pipe cleaners, you can use toothpicks or child-safe forks covered in paint to create firework prints. Or, use all 3 materials to create firework prints of different sizes and shapes!)
Making Pipe Cleaner Firework Prints
- Twist several pipe cleaners together to create a flat firework shape.
- Pour several paint colors onto a paper plate or pie tin.
- Pinch pipe cleaner firework in the center to hold it. Press it into the paint.
- Press paint-covered firework onto several spots around the paper to create firework prints!
- (Optional) Follow steps 2-3, but instead of pressing the pipe cleaner firework down and picking it back up, hold it down in the center and spin it to create colorful circles/spirals. Let the paint dry, then repeat steps 2-4 on top of the circles.
- (Optional) Once the firework prints have dried, add details using markers, crayons, colored pencils, or more paint.