In December, my mom gave us some decorative star anise to play with. Emma had the idea of using it in a collage. She wanted to attach it to the paper using paint, so we added some food coloring to glue to turn the glue into paint. She stirred the food coloring in carefully with toothpicks, and also used the toothpicks as tiny paintbrushes.
She dipped the anise stars into the dyed glue to attach them to the paper. Once she ran out of glue I added some regular washable paint. She used the orange paint and a toothpick to paint one of the stars, and then turned her attention to painting one of Johnny’s toys – good thing the paint was washable!
See more toddler/preschool art projects here.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Very pretty and creative! :)
.-= sunnymama´s last blog ..Batik Frog Wall Hanging GIVEAWAY =-.
Nice job! Very creative! :) 1st time visiting your blog – very nice ! :)
.-= Nicole (Mama to 3 Blessings)´s last blog ..Art "nature" box =-.
I love the natural shapes – lovely idea!
.-= Elisa | blissfulE´s last blog ..at Catherine’s birthday party =-.
What an interesting project!
This turned out so beautiful and it looks like she was really concentrating on her art! I’ve never heard of decorative anise stars – what a unique art project! (You could link this up to the Art Box. ;) )
How pretty. (And yes, thank goodness for washable paint. And Oxyclean!)
.-= Sadia´s last blog ..Just a spoonful of sugar =-.
Great to see such a creative mind at work :-)
.-= Mama King´s last blog ..Valentines Day Craft: Painted Paper Doilies =-.
She has wonderful ideas!
.-= MamaRuck´s last blog ..Snow Day =-.
She looks so intense! I love how she came up with such an original project!
Very cute!!
.-= Denise@TogetherWeSave´s last blog ..Free EPT Pregnancy Test =-.
Emma’s anise collage turned out lovely. It’s clear from the pictures that she was very absorbed in painting her stars.
.-= Natalie´s last blog ..StArt – Missing Math =-.
what a great art project