Rainbow Stick Painting #readforgood

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, this week we are kicking off Camp Mom 2012! For Week One we are doing simple camp crafts. Camp Mom crafts and activities will be inexpensive and typically will try and use materials that you probably already have around your house. What can be simpler than sticks and paint, right?

We did this craft activity outside in my outdoor craft area (ancient table + paint tarp = perfect for camp mom). In addition to the materials shown above, you'll also want some large paper to paint on. We used easel paper, but you could use a roll of drawing paper or just small pieces of 8.5 X 11 cardstock... or whatever else you want!

This first thing I always love to do when I am hiking or camping is go on a stick hunt! Then I love to come up with different crafts using the sticks... in addition to finding the perfect stick for walking. Today we went on quite an adventure to find our sticks. After that, we decided to paint with our sticks and do some rainbow stick printing! I'll share a few other ideas for crafting with sticks below. 

Making a rainbow painted stick is super easy and my son was just in awe of how cool it looked once he started printing.

Then he moved to smearing and rolling... and twirling.

He loved breaking the sticks up into little pieces too and then painting designs and pictures. I loved watching how his imagination worked to keep coming up with new ways of creating. I liked just sitting back and chatting with him while he explored. Sometimes I'll jump in and join him... but lately that leads to him copying me... so occasionally it is nice to just sit back and just see what he comes up with.

This picture below is him creating some fire dancing with his little mini stick. We recently returned from Hawaii and he loved the fire dancing at the luau... so he loves coming up with different creative ways of portraying the fire dancing in his art work and activities.

Our job today once our sticks dry is deciding what they will become next...

We'll plan to show you what we come up with later in the week.

I love this creative "Not a stick" activity by Teach Preschool that was posted over at No Time for Flashcards. Deborah's students did an amazing job of using their imaginations to turn their sticks into something that was "not a stick..."

Making some stick animals, like these from Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty could be a fun option too.

Or these stick snakes... via Creative Jewish Mom

I also love this stick frame from The Crafty Classroom... and could imagine my son adding onto this with some great imaginative ideas.

Making stick alphabet letters or names could be a lot of fun too (via Kids Craft Weekly).

If you haven't gone on a stick hunt recently... I'm going to challenge you to try it this week and use your imagination and create something with the sticks you find. Do you think you can do it?

While you're at it, you can check out these MeMeTales books about using your imagination!

The MeMeTales Readathon 2012 Free books this week are all about using your imagination! You can download them from here:

• Night Boy
• Doors in the Air
• There's A Dinosaur in the Park

Do you have any other favorite books about using your imagination?

What have you created with sticks before?

What would you do next with our rainbow sticks?

If you haven't signed up to participate in Readathon 2012 yet, go here for more details on how to get started! You can also check out the MeMeTales Pinterest board for more activities and crafts related to using your imagination!

Have you missed any weeks of the Readathon? Catch on our posts by clicking on the links below:

Week 1: Animals- Hands-on Fun with the Five Little Ducklings

Week 2: Friendship- Simple Friendship Bracelet

Week 3: Character Development- Fizzing Fireworks

Disclaimer: Due to my participation in the Readathon 2012, I am receiving the featured books for free from MeMeTales. In exchange, I will be sharing book inspired, fun activities with you each week!