Sunflower Stamping

Sunflowers are so big and bold so I figured they would definitely capture my son's attention as part of an invitation to paint with a stamping twist.

Sunflower stamping.

What you need:

- fresh sunflowers (alternatively you could use a picture)

- green, black and yellow acrylic paint

- A4 white card

- paintbrushes

- a small round pot

- a toilet roll (end pinched to form a petal shape)

How it works:

My son announced that sunflowers are his favourite flower recently so I thought it would be nice to use them as part of an invitation to paint. I set up all of the materials on a tray and we discussed the colours, textures, shapes and smells of the various parts of the flower.

The set up.

My son started by painting a green stem. I left it up to him what he used to paint the stem with. He chose to squirt the green paint in a thin line and then used the thick paintbrush to flatten it as he said that the stem was quite wide.

Painting the green stem.

Next my son chose to use black to paint the centre of the sunflower. At first he was going to just use his brush to paint but I asked him if there was anything that was the same shape that he could use to help him. He spotted that the plastic cup was also a circle. He chose to cover the bottom of the cup in paint and use it as a stamper. He then used his brush to fill in the gaps.

Using the bottom of the cup as a stamper for the centre of the flower.

Pushing down the cup to make a black circular print.

Finally it was time to add the yellow petals. Again, I let my son look at the materials he had available and this time he was more aware of not just using a brush. He noticed that the toilet roll had been squeezed into the shape of a petal so he painted the end yellow and used it as a petal stamper around the black centre.

Painting the end of the toilet roll yellow.

Using the toilet roll as a petal stamper.

He then insisted that he had to add some more yellow to the picture because it was very sunny. Here is his finished masterpiece.....

Sunflower stamping masterpiece.