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You are here: Home / Discover and Explore / Exploring the Senses~Painting with Tea Bags

Exploring the Senses~Painting with Tea Bags

By Shaunna Evans 39 Comments · This content may contain affiliate links.

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This week’s theme for Discover & Explore is the Five Senses. I hope after reading this post you’ll share your favorite ways to help kids learn about their senses.

We recently used tea bags for a variety of learning and play activities, and this painting with tea bags project turned out to be such a delight for the senses that I couldn’t wait to share it with you today.

To get ready I purchased a variety pack of caffeine free fruit flavored herbal tea bags. I chose this collection because I thought it would offer scents the kids could recognize and also be the most likely to produce different colors for our painting activity.

Explore the Sense of Smell with Tea Bags

We started by using our sense of smell to make observations about the different kinds of tea. Lovey really liked all of the different scents.

Invitation to Create-Painting with Tea Bags

Later that day I set up this invitation to create. I really had no idea how this project was going to turn out, but I knew the kids would have fun using the spray bottles. And I was sure we’d also be surprised by the results.

We used watercolor paper so that the paper would not get too wet and fall apart. Card stock would also work well. If you do try plain paper, please let me know how it turns out.

Paint with Tea Bags

Big Buddy was the first to place arrange his tea bags. He made a T for Teapot! Then he started to spray just a little bit of water on each individual tea bag watching carefully as the tea bags slowly started to show a bit of color around the edges.

Toddler Messy Play-Painting with Tea Bags

Tinker loves using the spray bottle, so she was delighted to give this a try. She focused on spraying the same bag over and over again until the color started trickling down the paper.

Sense of Smell-Painting with Tea Bags

Lovey was the first to start moving the tea bags around the paper to see if she could get colors stamped all over the paper.

Explore the 5 Senses with Kids Painting with Tea Bags

It didn’t take long before she realized she could use her sense of touch to squish the bags and get a more vibrant mix of colors. The more all of the kids squished and sprayed, the more fragrant the tea bags became. It smelled amazing!

Squishing Tea Bags- Sensory PaintingAfter squishing the bags flat for a while the kids decided to squeeze the bags to watch the colors drip onto the paper. A couple of the tea bags did end up breaking, but that just added another opportunity to explore different textures with the sense of touch.

Once the kids were finished we let the pictures dry. The colors didn’t stay as vibrant, but they still smelled wonderful. This was definitely a process-based  activity, not necessarily an artistic masterpiece. But it was definitely a great way to explore the senses and have a little fun painting in a unique way.

Painting with Tea Bags

While we didn’t incorporate all five senses in our painting activity, we did include the senses of hearing and taste later in follow-up activities. Since we don’t usually drink tea or even own a tea kettle, my kids didn’t really understand that a tea kettle made a noise. So we borrowed a tea kettle to prepare tea. We used our sense of hearing to listen as the kettle was ready. Then we had the chance to taste the different varieties of tea.

**Update** I just found out Jessica from Play Learn Love also tried this activity with her kids. See what they thought of painting with tea bags here.  Who’s going to try it next? 🙂

A Full Week of 5 Senses Lesson Plans

Continue learning about the five senses with our printable lesson plan set. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provide different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

5-senses-lesson-plans-generic

Help kids learn about the five senses while engaging in cross-curricular activities during this week long theme for preschool classes. Kids will engage all five senses as they participate in art, sensory, math, science, and literacy activities.

Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:

Get Your Copy

Home Preschool Five Senses Theme Lesson Plans (in our shop or on TpT)

Preschool Classroom Five Senses Theme Lesson Plans (in our shop or on TpT)

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Filed Under: Art, Discover and Explore, Fine Motor, Invitations to Create, Kindergarten, Letter T, Preschool, Sensory, Toddler Tagged With: five senses, messy play, painting

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lynne Ramsay

    September 20, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    Would never had thought to use teabags. Thankyou for sharing, I will definitely give this activity a go.

    Reply
  2. Amanda

    July 4, 2014 at 4:47 pm

    Thank you for sharing this with us. We used this with flower stencils and it was very beautiful and kept the children busy for a good amount of time.

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      September 25, 2014 at 3:53 pm

      What a lovely idea, Amanda! I bet that turned out gorgeous.

      Reply
  3. Ashley

    October 1, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    We should definitely try this! Featured you at Mom’s Library!

    Reply
  4. Debs

    September 28, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    Awesome!!! Thanks for linking this up to Tuesday Tots. Just letting you know I’m featuring it this coming week on TT on Learn with Play at home. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Ticia

    September 27, 2013 at 5:00 pm

    I love the idea of painting with tea bags, when I saw the title I was thinking you were going to be painting with tea you made, which got me thinking of how to do that.

    Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      October 4, 2013 at 3:14 pm

      That might be something fun to try!

      Reply
  6. Anna@The Measured Mom

    September 27, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    Loving your Discover & Explore themes — such a great group of bloggers teaming together to bring creative, educational ideas together in one place! Thanks so much for linking up to After School!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      October 4, 2013 at 3:18 pm

      Thank you, Anna! We really want the linky to be a great resource for others, so I appreciate your feedback.

      Reply
  7. Jenny Portem

    September 26, 2013 at 11:19 pm

    I’ve been looking for other ways to maximize used tea bags (apart from putting it on my eyes for relaxation) and this idea sounds wonderful! What kind of paper did you use so that it won’t break too easily?

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      October 4, 2013 at 3:19 pm

      I used watercolor paper, but you might also try card stock. Sorry that I forgot to mention that in the original post.

      Reply
  8. Rachel

    September 26, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    This was our 5 senses project for the week.
    http://krazyforkindergarten.blogspot.com/search/label/Bears
    We also learned Barney’s five senses song.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ddX7uDhLo

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      October 4, 2013 at 3:22 pm

      Cute ideas! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  9. Lucinda @ Navigating By Joy

    September 23, 2013 at 2:10 am

    I’ve never thought of doing this, what a lovely idea. (Being English, I drink a lot of black tea, so I thought at first this was going to be about aging paper or treasure maps with those kind of teabags… a whole other activity!) I can just imagine the pleasure of squishing the bags to release the colour – mmm!
    Lucinda {via Science Sunday}

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      October 4, 2013 at 3:33 pm

      Yes, that would be another fun activity. I’ve tried that in my kindergarten classes, but this was definitely a different experience. Thanks for stopping by from Science Sunday.

      Reply
  10. Lindsay @ youaretheroots.com

    September 22, 2013 at 7:47 pm

    This is wonderful! I love it. Never thought to use tea bags for art! We have a playdate coming up soon and I think I’ll use this activity.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      October 4, 2013 at 3:36 pm

      Awesome! I hope the group enjoys it as much as we did. Stop by and let me know how it goes!

      Reply
  11. Missy

    September 22, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    Thanks for sharing! I’m pinning this to my Sensory Experiences board 🙂

    I found your post at Science Sunday.

    Reply
  12. jackie

    September 21, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    What a super activity! I’ll bet it smelled heavenly. I wouldn’t have imagined you’d get all that beautiful colour out of a teabag!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 3:44 am

      Thanks, Jackie! I really had no idea how it would turn out either. That was part of the fun! Now I’m interested in experimenting with other kinds of tea bags to see what other colors we can discover.

      Reply
  13. Jennifer @ The Jenny Evolution

    September 21, 2013 at 3:58 pm

    Just love this! Thanks for sharing on the Friday Flash Blog on The Jenny Evolution. I’m definitely pinning this 🙂

    Jennifer @ The Jenny Evolution

    Reply
  14. Andrea B (@goodgirlgonered)

    September 21, 2013 at 11:31 am

    I love this. I found you on SITSSharefest, and I pinned your post to the SITS board, but I am also liking so my friends can find it on FB. Love it. Fun idea!!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 3:46 am

      Thank you so much for sharing! I’m so glad you liked the idea!

      Reply
  15. Simi

    September 20, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    This is an amazing idea! I would love to do this with my son… and get him to make some background papers for my mixed media work. Everyone is happy!!! Thanks so much! x

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 3:48 am

      Oooh, that’s a really neat idea! What a fun way to combine your art into one piece.

      Reply
  16. Annette Richmond

    September 20, 2013 at 3:45 am

    You come up with such creative amazing fun ideas. I’m trying this next week! Thank you so much, my LO’s are loving all these new activities

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 4:00 am

      Thank you so much! It really means a lot to me that you took the time to share. I’m glad some of our activities are coming in handy, and I hope you have fun with this one–we loved it!

      Reply
  17. Jessica

    September 19, 2013 at 3:05 pm

    Great minds think alike! We tried this earlier in the summer and my kids had a blast. It truly is a sensory experience! My kids also enjoyed breaking open the tea bags and painting with the loose tea. I love your idea of using spray bottles. We will have to try that next time 🙂

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 4:13 am

      Wow! Great minds do think alike. I hadn’t seen your version, but I do love how the kids embraced painting with the loose tea as well. And I’m glad to see someone else has also tested out the idea with success. Because of Google’s rules about SEO and links in the comments I had to remove your link, but I did link to you from my post above.

      Reply
      • Jessica

        September 23, 2013 at 3:11 pm

        Sorry about the link in your comments. Didn’t know about that SEO rule. Always learning! Just trying to share a different take on the project. Thanks for the link in your post. Not necessary, but I appreciate it 🙂

        Reply
        • Shaunna

          October 4, 2013 at 3:32 pm

          Definitely no need to apologize, and I’m glad to include your link. I’m learning every day, too. 🙂

          Reply
  18. danielle

    September 19, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    Amazing! I have a grown up artist friend who once did some work with tea bags—these paintings are legit! 🙂

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 4:16 am

      Oh, wow! I’d love to see how an adult would use them for paintings. Sounds fun!

      Reply
  19. pinkoddy

    September 19, 2013 at 2:15 am

    What a great idea – and I have herbal tea bags we don’t use and this is a perfect way to use them.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 4:19 am

      Ooh, free and fun art! Now we’re talking. 🙂

      Reply
  20. Sarah @ How Wee Learn

    September 18, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    I must have known subconsciously about the 5 senses theme – as I JUST posted about it today!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 4:26 am

      Perfect! So glad to have you joining in again. Love your posts!

      Reply
  21. Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest

    September 18, 2013 at 7:46 am

    This is so neat! You always have such original ideas, Shaunna! We have lots of tea in many flavours so we’ll definitely have to give this a try.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      September 22, 2013 at 4:26 am

      Thanks so much, Ann! I bet your kiddos will have a lot of fun with this!

      Reply

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