Worm Painting- Process Art with Yarn

If you have some yarn or ribbon scraps saved from this yarn cutting activity, here is one way to give them a second life. Be sure to check back later this week for another idea on how to repurpose the cuttings.

My kids love painting, especially with anything that isn’t a paintbrush!

Here’s What You Need

• Yarn, ribbon, or string. Be sure to check out this post to see how we ended up with so much yarn in the first place!

• Paint. The set I linked is my favorite- the metallic colors were fun for this activity.

• Paint palette

• Paper- grab your free worm printable below.

GET YOUR FREE WORM PRINTABLE HERE

Worm Printable

Set up

1 minute

1. Let your child pick out what paint colors they want. The colors my daughters pick never “go together”, but this part really fills their power cup.

2. Pour paint into the paint palette or let your child do this if you/they are ready to try. Remember, pouring takes practice and might will get messy.

3. Get your paper or worm printable ready. Taping it down can work wonders for younger kids. Vaila is almost 4 and was able to manage holding the paper still with one hand and painting with the other, but I have definitely taped down her projects when she was younger.

4. I also usually put down a trash bag or easel roll paper to make cleanup easier.

Clean Up

1-2 minutes

1. Let the paint dry if you are keeping it.

2. Rinse your paint palette out and throw your soggy yarn or ribbon away.

All of my children LOVE worms and thought this activity was awesome and hilarious. Painting with yarn was new and it was interesting to watch them figure out how to actually transfer the paint to the paper effectively. We did end up with a few globs of paint that took quite a while to dry.

We usually decide by the end of the night or the next day what we are doing with their pictures, depending on when everything is dry. They each have a folder for artwork they are saving, still working on, or gifting, so they are the deciders for most things. If they don’t put it in a folder, they put it in the trash or I ask if they are saving a certain piece. We’ve had too many projects accidently end up in the trash, which results in a lot of tears. I keep the very special ones for myself and am working on a system to organize these items along with special cards or other mementos. I’ll update you on this as it comes together.

This activity was perfect for a rainy day with a lot of worms on the sidewalk. We also listened to Herman the Worm which is in the top 10 of most requested songs at our house. Vaila did end up with some paint on her hands, but the brand I linked washes right off. No muss, no fuss. So grab some paint and yarn and get to painting!

Have a great day!

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