Yarn Painting: Outdoor Process Art

Try yarn painting for a little outdoor art fun!

One of the best parts of summer is outdoor activities. Take that mess and head outside! I especially love doing large scale process art activities with my toddler outside – keeps my IKEA white couch a whole lot happier. Yarn painting has been a huge hit at our house and it’ll be perfect for a summer day at your place.

This post is part of the A-Z OF OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES blog hop hosted by Crafty Kids at Home. My yarn painting activity is, obviously, letter Y in the series.

Setting up yarn painting is a perfect outdoor activity.

Materials:
(this list contains affiliate links)

Paint (I use Crayola Washable Tempera Paint)
Yarn
Paper

I set up this outdoor art project inside my beloved sand table (affiliate link). We haven’t filled it with sand yet for the summer so it’s the perfect make shift toddler art table for right now.

I cut some yarn up in a few different lengths, laid the paper in the sand table, and squirted out a bunch of paint onto a paper plate. It was time to get messy!

My son took right to this! He just loved it and this is NOT a kid who loves art. I like to expose him to art often, but it’s definitely hit or miss. This was a gigantic hit.

BTDub, he’s wearing a make shift smock made out of a kitchen garbage bag. Usually, art like this would be done in the …er….nude, but it wasn’t warm enough out so I needed to keep him warm but without sacrificing a load of laundry.

This yarn painting is considered a process art activity. Process art is a buzz word you may or may not be familiar with (I wasn’t until recently). Process art simply means that you are letting the child lead and guide the art into it’s final product. I didn’t have any preconceived ideas of how this should look – I wasn’t asking my toddler to make a rainbow, a picture of a house, or work within any boundaries. Here’s your paint, here’s the yarn, here’s the paper: have at it.

I love a good process art activity and my son really took to yarn painting. He loved dragging the paint soaked yarn across the paper and I loved watching what he was creating. Apparently, that’s a picture of me in the bottom corner near his hand. I’ve never felt more beautiful!

Make sure to check out the rest of the A-Z OF OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES for even more ideas perfect for summer.