Irresistible Snowfllakes !

Our snowflake paintings are created using a fun masking tape resist technique!

We used a large (16 x 20) Dick Blick Canvas from the Economy Classroom packs. You could do these much smaller - just adjust the size of tape you use. Big is easier for children, though.

You just tape off your design - you can vary the subject matter. I have done this with a class and taped off blocks of color for a lesson on Mondrian. It's cold, so today it's snowflakes!

Be sure to have the children rub, rub, rub the tape down. You will get a small amount of paint bleed and it adds to the design but you don't want all the white to disappear. Make sure the tape is really pressed down.

Then I let them choose 3 colors for their paint "palette" which is a paper plate! I use acrylic for this project so just pull out all the odds and ends of blues and purples and choose 3 or 4. If you are buying paint for a group to do this the Blikcrylic dries very quickly.Then using a 1 inch or so brush they just start brushing paint around the tape lines - gently so as not to pull up the tape.  I show them how to move around the canvas and paint"patches" of the three colors and they start to blend together. You don't want it all 1 color.

When the canvas is painted you can sprinkle on some blue glitter. I used some turquoise Martha Stewart glitter. It's very fine and subtle but adds that wintry sparkle. It doesn't take much.

Let it dry - absolutely the hardest part. You will be going crazy wanting to pull the tape up!! Wait!

When it's dry you can start pulling the tape up for the big REVEAL!!!!

Just continue pulling off the tape. This is always a lot of fun and good for ooohs and ahhs!!

Then, and this is optional but so pretty, you can paint the white snowflake left by the resist with glue or Mod Podge and sprinkle with crystal glitter.

And you end up with a very sparkly snowflake with a beautiful blended color background. It's a fun lesson becaue you paint the background and end up with a snowflake!

**They have gotten lots of "oohhh so pretty" - the picture really doesn't do it justice.

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