Smiles and Butterflies

Yesterday was the first day we attempted to paint with watercolors.

I liked it a lot better than regular paint.  Just as colorful, half as messy.  Unless you count the potential for flooding, but if you keep the dipping water to a minimum, you should be all right.

For our maiden voyage, we wanted to go easy.  I found a really simple and low-mess idea for watercolors for preschoolers.  Painting on a coffee filter.

Apparently since coffee filters are a porous material, it creates a more watery watercolor, meaning that the colors bleed and blend into each other in a very cool Impressionist kind of way.  You could also use paper towels for the same effect.

We taped ours to newspaper so that it would lay flat.  It was impossible to get off so I just cut around it.

And voila!  Pretty coffee filter art for one and all! 

And, something that was just brought to my attention by a good friend, apparently there can be a part two to this project.  You can fold the coffee filter in half and twist it with a pipe cleaner and turn it into a beautiful butterfly!  I plan on doing it tomorrow, and I wrote a post about the finished product here, but I found plenty of directions on how to do it online, like here.  A worthwhile and easy part two!

And an adorable little guy with a great smile who loves butterflies.  Perfect.