What you’ll need:

What to do:

Attach pegs to cotton wool balls. Have your child hold the peg to control the cotton wool as they dip it into the paint then dab, swirl, drag or push it along the paper to create different effects. Encourage them to touch the cotton wool lightly to the paper, and then heavily, to see how this changes the effect. Allow your child to experiment with different effects and colours and don’t worry about having a ‘finished’ picture at the end. Gripping and maneuvering the pegs is great fine motor practice and learning to combine different moves and colours encourages imagination and creativity.

Alternative Materials:

Change it up:

Make it easy: Offer just a couple of colours and guide your child’s hand at first to help them get the feel of things.

Make it a challenge: Give your child the cotton balls and pegs and ask them to attach the two together before starting to paint with them.

Play with friends: A few friends can work together to create a large painting with each child working in a different colour, or each can create individual paintings. Young cousins or siblings could make a group painting as a present for a grandparent.

Indoor play: Lay down an old sheet or newspaper for your child to work on if you’re doing this activity indoors.

Developmental areas:

• Fine motor skills
• Imagination

Values:

Creativity; self-confidence.