Tie Dye Butterflies
This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.
Having a plan of themed projects and learning activities to do every week this summer with my girls has been an experiment that has been a learning experience, but a good one! My girls have loved all of the themes we have been following so far this summer, and we have had fun planning all of the activities and themes that are coming up through the rest of the summer. This week, we are focusing on art and colors. My girls love to create, and I thought it would be fun to try out some different kinds of art mediums with them. We started with these tie dye butterflies, and they were a huge hit!
The supplies for this project are very few and you likely will have most of them on hand. You will need paper towels.( I always buy Bounty Advanced paper towels in bulk from Costco which meant I had plenty for making the project as well as cleaning up afterwards.) You’ll also need watercolor paints, paper plates, and pipe cleaners.
Setup is easy. The Bounty Advanced paper towels are the select a size kind, and I used two sections (still stuck together) to create the butterflies. Place it on top of the paper plate which is there to keep your table from getting painted, and then get a jar of water and prime your paints by using the paint brush to put water in each color. We decided to stick to the brighter colors, and I really loved the way it all turned out.
The nice part about using Bounty Advanced paper towels is that they are super absorbent, so the colors blend together really well. If you put a little bit of water on the paper towel before putting the paint on, it will make the paint spread further. My girls thought it was so cool to see the paint spread through the wetness and combine colors together to create new colors.
You’ll definitely want to make sure that you paint the whole paper towel so that the wings are very colorful. Once the whole thing is painted, let it dry before trying to wrap it with the pipe cleaner. The wings will hold their shape much better if it dries first.
Once dry, wrap the pipe cleaner around the middle of the paper towel and then twist the ends together. We curled the ends of the antennae around so that they looked more “cutesy”.
The butterflies definitely made it to our art wall. I love seeing my kid’s creations every day, and we rotate out the artwork regularly. My favorite is having art that goes with the season so that it is a decoration created by them.
We really tried to keep things as clean as possible while painting on my kitchen table, but accidents happen and paint drips. For the most part, the watercolor paints will just clean up easily by just wiping it up with you Bounty Advanced paper towels. Some of the darker colors tend to stain my newly painted table, though, and I didn’t want to have spots all over the table I spent so long painting. Ha!
My little trick for you is to use Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to get all of the paint off of the table. Be sure to test a spot first to see if it is going to affect your table in any way, but it worked like a charm on my table. (They do have a list of surfaces that you can use the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers on if you look at the back of the packaging.) Oh! And the other thing that it does really well is get all of the dirt and grime out of the grooves on my table. If you have grooves, try this out today! It is amazing how quickly it gets all of the grossness out of there!
Having creative kids isn’t always a blessing. I don’t know about you, but I purchase Mr. Clean Magic Erasers in bulk. My sister told me the other day that my home is basically an art museum showcasing Addie’s artwork all over the walls, and doors, cabinets, floors…..you name it and she has probably done something to it. Seriously. The good news is I can get it off with a little elbow grease and some help. There is nothing better than Mr. Clean Magic Erasers at getting all of it cleaned off. I’m talking even Sharpie marker and nail polish!!
Procter and Gamble products are my go to products. They just do a better job than any other brand, and they are affordable too. Check out this list of P&G products to find out where you can save some money by buying in bulk, and be sure to watch for manufacturer coupons to save even more. That is the best time to stock up!
Be sure to check back throughout the rest of this week to see more art projects, and through the rest of the summer to see other fun activites to do with your kids!
