Make Your Own Bottle Paintbrush

Create a giant paintbrush that'll inspire your mini Matisse.

Submitted by
Kayla Chong

The tiny fibers on a regular paintbrush are way too restrictive for your budding artist. He wants color. He wants texture. He wants to cover the paper (not to mention himself) with paint. This jumbo-size paintbrush easily satisfies his need to "make magic" ... and messes.

An empty water bottle with a cap
A clean kitchen sponge
Scissors
Rubber band
Washable paints:
Watercolors, tempera, acrylics—whatever you have on-hand.
Paper plates
White butcher paper:
A huge piece.
A tarp or some newspaper:
To protect your kitchen floor from wayward paint splatters. Even better, if it's warm out, do this activity outside on the sidewalk and you won't go into panic mode if your kid decides to try out his Jackson Pollack paint-flinging technique.

Tell your kid you're going to paint, but first you have to make a new paintbrush.
Get started by cutting a sponge into a 1 and ½-inch wide strip.
Fold the sponge strip over the top of the water bottle and use the rubber band to secure it to the water bottle. Ta da! Paintbrush!
Lay the tarp or newspaper out on the floor (or sidewalk) with the butcher paper on top of it.
Pour a bunch of paint onto the paper plate. If your kid wants a multi-chromatic piece, pour different colors onto different plates.
Hand little Matisse the brush and have him dip it into the paint. From there, let him explore various painting techniques. Sweeping? Splattering? Sponging? Whatever he wants (and whatever your cleaning sensibilities can take).
When he's done, let his work dry and put it on display.
Be sure to wash his new paintbrushes off and let them dry, too. We have a feeling he'll be wanting to make another mess … er, picture … again soon!