Materials:
- paper plates (7in Safeway brand seemed to work great and fit my salad spinners)
- salad spinner
- squeeze bottles
- tempera paint (watered down about 4:1 paint to water)
A lot of experimentation, problem solving, and total fun happens while doing spin art. It’s also a very active form of making art which requires balance and strength and control to get the spinner going fast.
The paint squirts out so quickly and the students have so much fun squeezing that often you will look over and find a student with a full pile of paint on the plate. Don’t fear, while it may cover the entire plate when spun it still looks cool!!
My young toddlers are usually very fascinated with the mechanics of the spinner. Can you feel this child’s brain ticking?
So much pride, and so much fun!
With thinned down tempera paint you will have a lot of opportunity to discuss color mixing.
It’s easiest to contain the messiness potential of a squeeze bottle paint project if students apply their paint in the spinner.
I encouraged playing with lines and dots and different placement of paint colors to see what effects they could make.
For some it was more comfortable to sit or kneel or squat on the ground.
