Straw Blowing Paint Art Activity

Washable paint in 2-3 colors

Water for thinning the paint

Drinking straws

Paper (watercolor paper holds up best but any paper works)

A tray to contain the mess

Tape

A spoon for dropping paint

Thin washable paint with water until it flows easily — about a 50-50 mix of paint and water. It should run when you tilt the cup.

Tape paper to a tray. The tray catches paint that escapes the paper edges.

Use a spoon to drop a small puddle of watery paint onto the center of the paper.

Show your child how to hold a straw about an inch above the paint blob and blow gently through it.

Watch the paint shoot outward in thin, branching lines. The harder you blow, the farther and thinner the lines travel.

Add more paint drops in different colors and blow from different angles. Where colors meet, they blend into new shades.

Let the artwork dry flat. The organic, branching patterns look remarkably like trees, coral, or lightning bolts.

Make sure the paint is thin enough. If it does not move when blown, add more water. Too thick and nothing happens.

Blow through the straw, not suck. Remind younger children by demonstrating a few times. Hold the straw slightly above the paint, never in it.

This is a study in cause and effect. Different blow strengths, angles, and distances create completely different patterns.

To make it look like a tree, blow from directly below a dark paint blob upward. The branching lines look exactly like bare winter branches.

Work fast — thin paint dries quickly on paper. Have your paint drops ready to go before you start blowing.