Sometimes my kids come into my craft room, fiddle around, touch everything they can get their hands on, and beg to make a project. While I have a ton of materials at my disposal, sometimes in the midst of developing new work, I can’t just clear the canvas and start an in-depth craft at the drop of a pom-pom.
So that’s when I grab for simple, mark-making projects like these. Using rubber bands and a few other household items that everyone has, you can make three different painting tools that will yield surprisingly clever results.
Rubber-Band Stamps
- Cut small rectangles of cardboard, a bit larger than the circumference of the rubber band that you’re using.
- Lay a rubber band down on a protected surface, apply glue to the top edge, and set a cardboard rectangle on top of it. Let dry.
- Gently press the rubber band stamp onto the ink pad and stamp onto a piece of paper.
Rubber-Band Roller
- Stretch five to eight rubber bands around the tape roll
- Roll the tape roll in a thin layer of paint or on an ink pad and then roll it onto a piece of paper to create multiple stripes.
Rubber-Band Paintbrush
- Gather six to eight rubber bands at the end of a pencil and wrap another rubber band around them to secure.
- Dip the rubber bands into paint and use like a paintbrush.
Excerpted from Project Kid by Amanda Kingloff (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2014. Photographs by Alexandra Grablewski