Got to love yarn art project for kids. In the past we have used yarn for learning, fine motor and for craft too. We have done sticky yarn project for learning letters and numbers, used yarn with sandpaper for creating art and rolled yarn around a rolling pin to make rainbow prints.
Today we are making scented string art.
Materials Needed:
- Kool-Aid packets
- Yarn
- Clear Bowls
- Thick paper
Grab small clear bowls and empty a whole packet of Kool Aid in each of them. Add enough water to keep the vibrancy of the color. { About 1 cup} We like to use clear cups because the colors really stand out and bright, vibrant colors really attract the kids. They get very excited to get started. { We have used brights colors as a central focus in multiple colors experiments and art projects}
We cut white yarn into varying lengths and dropped them in the bowls. The white yarn was a conscious choice since it will give the kids a chance to see the Kool-Aid color getting absorbed by the yarn. You can also see below that the yellow Kool-Aid has more than one color. An already colored yarn bit was dropped in the yellow Kool Aid and the kids watched the different colors mix and swirl. After observing the yarn and color interaction the kids were ready to move on to the art project.
Once the yarn is colored the children can place them on a thick sheet of paper. Good chance for them to get creative. Some may go for a specific design and some would love the beauty in randomness and some just want to watch the color spread to the paper.
The traditional way to do string yarn is to leave the string sticking out of the paper. We tried that method first. Let all the bits of string stick out of the paper and we lay another sheet of paper on top of the design. Immediately you will see the imprint on the top sheet. Since we used Kool-Aid as opposed to paint the change, print, absorption is immediate and dramatic – perfect to grab and sustain kid’s attention.
Then the fun part- the kids get to pull out the string to make more marks on the sheet.
Another method we tried was to just lay the string in more detailed patterns and not bother with the string pulling.
Since the “paint” so used was watery Kool-Aid which smelled GREAT by the way, the pulling step was not really needed to create amazing art. The kids created coil designs and laid them on the paper and waited a few seconds to watch the “paint” getting absorbed by the paper.
We tried a rainbow design.
Once you remove the strings one by one and lay the paper you are left with these.
The coils designs are probably the most eye catching.
Left over string which got dyed by all the Kool-Aid.
