Paints for the Apple Container:
Acrylic paints work best for this project, though you can use tempra (poster)
paints. Acrylic paint doesn't come out of clothes. If you get it on
something, wash IMMEDIATELY (before it dries)
When the girls were younger, I'd basecoat a bunch of pots with white acrylic
paint (and sometimes even leftover gray fence paint *grin*) and then let them
paint over top of that with poster paints. The terra cotta color is tough
to cover with poster paints. By basecoating white, it makes the process go
better for them.
 | Paint the terra cotta pot red. You can just paint the outside or you
can do the inside too (we just did the outside).
|
| Let dry (if using acrylic paints, the paint will be dry before you're
ready for the next step with the pot).
|
| Paint the bottom of the saucer the same color red. Again, you can
paint the whole thing red if you prefer.
|
| Paint a black square onto the front of the pot (to look like a
chalkboard). You can use low tack masking tape to tape off the area
you'll be painting if you want to be really exact, but we just did it free
hand. I drew a line with black marker and then Tasha (my 8 year old)
filled it in.
|
| Use tacky glue to attach the two leaves to the center of the bottom of the
saucer
OR |
| Cut leaf shapes from fun foam or construction paper and glue them on
|
| Tie the raffia or ribbon into a bow and glue that on top of the leaves.
|
| Use a small paintbrush to paint school messages onto the chalkboard.
Some suggestions are ABC's, 123's, I Love School, stick figures, the
teacher's name, the child's name or a picture of an apple. (Depending
on what you decide to put on your chalkboard, younger children may need help
with this step).
|
| Fill with candies, paper clips, push pins small erasers to give as gifts
to children and place on desk (or give to the teacher as a gift).
|
| NOTE: If the hole in the bottom of the pot is too large and lets the
candies out the bottom, trace the pot bottom onto a piece of red
construction paper or fun foam. Cut about 1/4 inch inside the circle
you traced and slip the circle inside the pot so it blocks the hole. |
