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Q-Tip Painting: Cherry Blossom

Updated: Oct 2, 2022

Goal: A fun and simple craft where preschool and school-age children can work on their fine

motor skills and explore their creativity by learning how to paint a tree using Q-tips.This craft is also great for recognizing and painting shapes.



Supplies

● Cardstock paper or canvas

● 21 Q-tips or cotton swabs

● Acrylic paint (brown, white, red, light pink)

● 5 small rubber bands

● Plastic table cloth

● Paper plate










Activity Steps:


Step 1: Before we start, we want to make sure that our area is clean and cover our table

with the table cloth. This ensures that we won’t get any paint on our table.


Tip: Because this is a painting activity, it is best to wear and apron or clothes that you

are allowed to paint in!!


Step 2: Make sure you have all of your supplies laid out on your table and place your

cardstock paper or canvas in front of you.


Step 3: Before we begin painting, we are going to make our Q-tip brushes. Since we are

painting with four colors, we need four sets of Q-tip brushes.



To do this we need to combine 5 Q-tips together. Pick up 5 Q-tips and using a rubberband, wrap the band around all 5 Q-tips several times until the Q-tips are held together tightly. The q-tips should look like five small circles held together.




Tip: if you don’t have Q-tips, cotton swabs will also work.


Step 4: Now that our brushes are made, we are going to add our paint to our plate. This

way, we will only have the paint we need and it will be mess free. Pour a quarter-sized

amount of each color paint on your plate. Make sure the paint colors don’t touch

because we don’t want the colors to mix together... YET!!!


Step 5: We are now going to paint the tree trunk. Using one of your Q-tip brushes, dip

your brush in the brown paint on your plate and paint a thick triangular shape at the

center bottom of your paper or canvas. This is the base of your tree trunk.



Using that same brush, paint a thick rectangular shape going up to the middle of the paper or canvas starting at the middle of the triangle.



Tip: To draw a rectangle, make two long lines on the sides and two short lines on the top

and bottom. Connect the lines on the ends of each line.


Tip: To draw a triangle, draw a line at the bottom. From one end of the line, draw an

upside down V connecting it to the other end of the line.


Step 6: Next, we are going to paint the tree branches. Using the one Q-tip left over, dip it in the brown paint and paint lines branching off of the top of the tree trunk. Your lines can be straight or way. They can also be thick or small or long or short. However you want!!



Tip: To make your tree bigger and fuller, you can paint more branches off of the other branches


Step 7: When you are finished painting your tree trunk, let it sit and dry for about 5 minutes and set your q-tips to the side..


Step 8: Now that your tree trunk is dry, it is time to paint your cherry blossom leaves!! The

leaves are red, light pink, and white. The combination of red, light pink, and white paint makes one cherry blossom leaf. We are going to start with red. Dip a new Q-tip brush into the red paint and tap the brush on and around the branches of your tree. The paint should look like 5 small circles. Tap the paint until the tree is full



Tip: if your circles become light, dip your brush in the red paint again.


Step 9: Next, we are going to add light pink paint. Just like we did before, dip a new Q-tip brush into the light pink paint and tap the brush on and around the branches of your tree. Try to tap the light pink paint on the empty spots around the branches.



Tip: it is okay if the light pink paint touches the red paint. It will create a new shade of pink!!!


Tip: if your circles become light, dip your brush in the light pink paint again.


Step 10: We can now add the white paint to our tree. Dip a new Q-tip brush into the white paint and tap the brush on and around the branches of your tree. Try to tap the white paint on the empty spots around the branches.



Tip: it is okay if the white paint touches the red and pink paint. It will create a new shade of

pink!!!


Tip: if your circles become light, dip your brush in the white paint again.


Step 11: Your cherry blossom tree is complete and beautiful!!! Sit your paper or canvas to the side to dry. Once its dry, you can hang it up and have your very own cherry blossom tree.


Fun Facts:

- Cherry blossom leaves and flowers are edible

- Cherry blossom leaves bloom once a year in the Spring for only two weeks.

- Cherry blossom leaves are usually, red, pink, and white, but they can come in other

colors.

- Cherry blossom flowers typically have 5 petals on every flower.


~ Made By: Jada H.

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