Mess Free: Straw Art Activity For Kids

This is a fun twist on the painting with a ziplock bag activity.  The kids really enjoyed working with the straws and seeing the paint come through.  They also had fun moving the paint around with their hands on the surface.  

Our art work :)

Get clear contact shelving and lay out sticky side up

This is a good length for several kids to play

Roll out a sheet of Paint paper. We just used the roll from our easel. I folded it so that the paper would be thinner and shorter than the area of the contact paper.

Lay the paper over the contact paper so that it sticks to the contact paper. Notice I have extra contact paper on all sides.

Place straws all around. Make sure the straw is over the paper and over the contact paper. Also, make sure you use straws that have an extension feature. The picture shows the extension part on the paper but I changed it so that the extension piece was on the outside.

This is why I changed it. I wanted the straws to be flexible at the ends so the kids can use squirt bottles to fill the straws. I covered the paper and the straws on the paper again with clear contact paper. This is the mess free concept. The paint will stay inside the clear contact paper while the kids squirt through the straws.

A few things I would do differently next time is insert the straws further. Possibly try to find longer ones with the expandable feature. I'd also put painter's tape around the edges of the whole area. As you can see, paint started to come out.