I don't know about you but my kids love a bit of arty fun so I decided to have a go at fruit and veg printing and see where it took us! I think that's the key to successfully making art fun for kids, don't be too structured and just go with the flow (if you can handle the potential mess!)
On that note I'd advise covering the table in newspaper or something similar and popping your little darlings into some kind of bib or apron. We have these ones from Ikea that our two call their arty bibs! This will make cleaning up super easy.
I selected some fruit and vegetables which would make different sized and shaped impressions. For our prints we used blueberries, bananas, carrots and apples. I cut them all in half and pressed them dry with a paper towel. We even used a piece of broccoli and used the tree end to stamp some fun patterns!
Pop a few different colours of paint onto a palette or a plastic plate - (I used washable water based paint.) Then hand the kids some paintbrushes and get them to paint the fruit. I had to help Grayson (age 4) with his but my daughter Vivienne (age 2) wanted to do it all herself!
I must say, their art work is (almost) always better when I don't get involved at all. The artist in me wants to guide them perhaps a little too much!
Get printing, try different fruits and different colours and just print them on a piece of paper any way you like. Grayson then grabbed his paintbrush and started painting on the paper too so Vivienne of course followed suit! They both enjoyed printing with the broccoli.
Once you've finished the stamping and painting, hang your piece of art up to dry.
Once dry, sit the kids down again with their paintings and give them some crayons and felt tips to draw arms, legs, eyes and teeth on their fruit and vegetable monsters.
And that's it! You can now either leave the artwork as it is, cut the monsters out of your piece of art and stick onto a fresh piece of paper, or simply crop the piece of paper choosing an area that looks the best!
Here is our best fruit monster!
And here's our best veg monster!
I hope this has inspired you to have some art fun with your little ones, if you're worried about the mess, you could always do it outside!
Printing with fruit and vegetables is a great way to talk about food with your children too. I wouldn't try eating the fruit and veg you used for stamping but you could follow the activity with fruit and veg snack! Keep the theme going!
If you are looking for another fun way to get the children talking about and trying new fruit and vegetables then take a look at my beautiful fruit and veg A-Z print. It's perfect for the wall of a nursery or child's bedroom.
I hope you enjoy making fruit and veg monsters!
Lots of love
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