Our kids are studying abstract art right now, and art is really not my thing. In college, I had to take a fine art class and I took 3D art since I like crafts, so I thought working with materials would make the class more bearable. The only A I received in that class was for an assignment where we had to make a tower for our imagination to live in out of balsa wood sticks and string (this was after making animal combinations out of clay and shoes out of wire). The night before our projects were due, mine was knocked out of my cubbie and shattered on the floor. Figuring there was nothing I could do to impress the teacher anyway, I just turned the assignment in broken. When I presented it, I said that it represented my complete and utter lack of imagination, and the professor ate it up. It was so frustrating!!
Anyway, I had a very long-reaching memory of making these marble paintings, but in an upside-down Tupperware cake carrier. Mine wouldn't work for the task because it's not flat-topped and has holes where the handle goes, but a cookie sheet did the trick!
All you do is find some marbles and dip them in paint. Then, lay a piece of paper down on your jellyroll pan (I call these cookie sheets- but they need to have sides to keep the marbles in!) and then drop the marbles all over the paper, and let your child gently shake to create designs. When the paint has all rolled off, you're done! Remove the marbles and let your creation dry.
I did this activity with my preschoolers when I taught. It's a great way to teach about mixing colors! Since marbles are choking hazards, I never left the child alone while doing the project. You could always use something bigger like those bouncy super balls. This would also work in a pie pan and smaller children can manage it better than a cookie sheet. Glad you and your class had fun with it! I like the Christmas tree idea! :)
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