Crazy Monsters Blow Painting

A really fun way to combine imaginative monster drawing and blow painting with only a few cheap resources needed.

The set up.

What you need:

- selection of different coloured A4 paper or card

- permanent marker (normal marker will smudge)

- straws

- small spoons or pipettes

- 4 drops of food colouring mixed with a small amount of water (or you can use watered down paints)

Step 1: Monster drawing

I started by asking my son what he thinks a monster looks like. We talked about all of the different facial features a monster might have, often referring to monsters that he knew about from 'Monsters Inc.' and also the book 'I Need My Monster' by Amanda Noll. I then asked my son to draw his very own crazy monster, offering him little prompts like 'how many eyes does he have' or 'I wonder if your monster will have sharp teeth'.

This was a very proud Mummy moment for me as it was the first time I had ever seen my son sit and actually draw a complete object rather than just squiggles and shapes.

Monster drawing.

Step 2: Adding the coloured hair

I asked my son if his monster had any hair and if so what colours did he think it should be. He then used a teaspoon (you could also use a pipette or syringe) to drop small amounts of the various food colouring mixtures onto his monster's head. 

He just did a few drops at a time to avoid the paper becoming too soggy (that's why card is probably best if your little one is prone to messy art).

Adding colour for the hair.

Step 3: Blow painting the monster's hair

The next part was my son's favourite aspect of the activity. He chose a straw and got to blow through it to make the colour drops spread all over his monster's head. My son enjoyed experimenting with how hard to blow and also changing the direction that his straw was pointing to make the hair look really crazy.

Once he had blown the colour drops on the page he would add more and blow again. He liked trying to mix the colours by moving the straw in circular motions as he blew through it.

Blow painting the hair.

The end product

Here they are, our crazy monster masterpieces. I decided to make one alongside my son to demonstrate the techniques (secretly I just wanted to try blow painting!). The colours showed up better on the white paper but my son enjoyed having a green monster.

This was my son's first completely solo piece of artwork. He normally requires more encouragement but he really enjoyed the monster theme and the novelty of blow painting.

Our masterpieces.