Marble Paint Roll Christmas Fun
Submitted by Liz Eagan on Dec 01, 2021
I like to do holiday crafts with my students, as it's a fun way to practice fine motor skills, sequencing, directionality and other basic concepts. It's also fun to show the families how talented their child is! So I did a twist on an old favorite activity of mine to use the marble paint roll. It doesn't have to be just a Christmas activity. It's an any-time activity. I just put a Christmas twist to it, but it could be done with a Menorah for Hanukkah or a different design for other holidays.
Materials:
- Marbles: I like to use different sizes
- Paint: I use tempera
- Paper: Cut to fit the size of the covered pan or container you're using; I tend to use a heavier weight cardstock, as the lighter weight paper tends to roll from the weight of the paint.
- Covered pan or container with lid
- Christmas tree outline (any shape will work). Here's the template I used.
Procedure:
- Gather all the materials from the list above.
- Trace the Christmas tree shape on several sheets. I left some blank for my older students to trace before they do the activity.
- After the tracing is complete, put the paper in the bottom of a covered pan/container. I chose a container that my students would be able to open/close with ease.
- Then squirt a little dollop of paint of each of the colors the student chose.
- Close the lid and then let the student shake or roll their paint from side to side. NOTE: Some of my students knocked it to the floor and then kicked it, as they don't like to do things with their hands. It's okay with me, as they're still participating. I had other students who were a little more rough in their shaking of the container. Hence the need for a lid! It's all good in the name of art!
Once they're done or you see they've covered the paper with the paint, remove the paper and put it in a location to dry. Once dried, you can cut out the design of the tree.
Variations:
- Sprinkle some art sand over the paint to give it some texture.
- When dried, add sticker ornaments to add to the tree.
- Here is an alternate way to do the marble paint roll.
