It’s fun to give toddlers something other than a paint brush to paint with, whether a cotton ball, an ice cube, or even just their fingers. Today, Veronika got to try painting with feathers, plus a few other items from nature!

I had some brightly colored feathers from the craft store that were perfect for this activity. To set up, I filled three cups with different colors of paint and added a little glue to each, making the mixture slightly sticky.

Veronika loved dipping the tips of the feathers in the cups…

…and then transferring over to her paper. She loves to say “dot dot dot!” as she paints and watches the color appear. The feathers themselves fascinated her, too.

Whenever one became too limp and saturated with paint, we simply added it to the painting and grabbed a fresh “brush”. As the gluey paint dries, the feathers will stick and become part of the final masterpiece.

We then decided to try the activity with other items, this time truly from nature and not a craft store. In the yard, we found “brushes” from pine needles and leaves.

Time to repeat the process! Dip the edges in the paint, use them as your brush, and whenever one gets too painty, it becomes part of the artwork!

These turned out so pretty! I loved that the tactile feel of the different nature items was just much a part of the activity as the paint was.