Yarn Stamp Art

This week for the Y is for Yarn series I’m excited to share another fun process-based art activity using yarn. I love the bold patterns made by this yarn stamp art process. 

This post contains affiliate links.

To prepare for this activity I wrapped yarn around floral foam that I trimmed into small blocks. You could use styrofoam, small cardboard boxes or even objects with different shapes. I chose these blocks because we had them on hand. They are inexpensive, and I wouldn’t have to clean them when we were done painting.

I chose to evenly space the yarn, but kids might also have fun creating their own designs with the yarn by crossing the yarn or spacing it out differently.

To set up the invitation to create, I placed the yarn blocks with washable tempera paint and paper.

The kids started by exploring mainly with a single color as they experimented to see what kinds of designs the yarn blocks would make.

The main tip I would suggest is to have the kids gently wipe off any excess paint. Otherwise you just get big rectangle with no lines.  After getting a lot of large rectangles Lovey realized she could rub the block along the edge of the dish to get some of the extra paint off and create the lined designs.

I love how their designs turned out, and they made many different paintings that day.

At first they mostly concentrated on abstract designs and chose not to mix the colors.

But as they painted more and more they tried new approaches. By the end Lovey even used the blue paint to stamp out a blue sky and added a yellow sun. Later she went back to add in more details to her picture with crayons. (Some day I’ll track down that picture that’s gotten lost in my photo archives somewhere!)

If we try this painting technique again, I’d love to use much larger paper and create a collaborative art piece.

Have you tried yarn stamp art before? Crayon Box Chronicles also has a similar activity she did with her little one. Check out how they enjoyed yarn painting.

We’ll be skipping next week’s Y is for Yarn series post to bring you a special series. Then we’ll be back in two weeks with some more fun with yarn for your preschoolers.

This post has been shared at some of these fantastic link parties.