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Home » Crafts » Kids Crafts

Diy Paint Brush for Kids

May 18, 2021

Making your own diy paint brush is easy, fun, and free! It will get you and your kids out in nature and kids will have a blast collecting natural materials - And pine needles make fantastic homemade paint brushes! 

diy paint brush

If you are looking for fun kids activities, check out these too:

  • No-Mess Finger Painting Activity - Fun!
  • Diy Paper Bookmarks - Made By Kids!
  • Water Walking Experiment For Kids

Diy Nature Paint Brushes For kids

Diy paintbrushes can be made from a wide variety of different materials, many of which you probably already have in your yard. We used materials from evergreen trees for bristles. Have you ever made a diy paint brush out of cypress tree leaves? Or spruce needles? Time to make one.

Supplies To Make Natural Paint Brushes

These are the few supplies you'll need to make a diy paint brush:

  • several twigs
  • string, twine, or a piece of raffia
  • materials for bristles (pine needles, spruce needles, cypress foliage, even tree buds, etc)
  • optional: a rubber band
supplies for a diy paint brush

How To Make A Diy Paint Brush

First, for those of you who prefer video how-tos, here's a short video slide-show for you:

Now, in words:

1) Gather needles and leaves from trees of your choice - for bristles. Get several sticks that will become paintbrush handles. 2) Distribute the bristle material nicely around the stick and start attaching it by wrapping raffia (or twine) around.  

hands making a diy paint brush

Small children will need assistance with this acitvity. To make it easier, you can use a rubber band to hold the bristle material together while the child wraps raffia around. {For a heavy-duty use, the rubber band alone will not be enough.} Very suitable for times when kids make paint brushes themselves without your help.

3) Wrap raffia (or twine) several times around the handle and the bristle material, then tie it firmly and cut off any excessive string.

hands making a diy paint brush

4) You've just made your very own brush! Your kids will love the process and you might end up making tons of them!

semi-finished diy paintbrush from nature materials

Each paintbrush will create a different pattern in the painting. The more different brushes, the more variety in the process. You can explore a wide range of different brushstroke effects.

several diy paintbrushes from nature materials

Hands-on learning for kids about textures - while having fun!

finished diy natural paintbrush from nature materials
finished diy natural paintbrush from nature materials

Bonus Tips For Using Diy Paint Brushes

When using bristle materials that will last longer (pine needles won't fall off soon!), you can even store some of DIY paintbrushes for next time! If your kids are at least a bit like mine, they will want to paint with those brushes again and again. All the time!

using diy natural paintbrush

A fun activity encouraging kids to use their imagination and explore textures. Creativity in play!

painting with a diy natural paint brush

Now get to work and make your own textured paint brushes, it's fun!

painting with a diy natural paint brush

And a wonderful color mixing activity! If you want to see more about color mixing for kids, you'll probably love this water walking experiment we did a while ago.

painting with a diy natural paint brush

Where To Store Art Supplies And Diy Brushes

These brushes can stored for even more hours of play! Make sure to dry them off well, then place in a container that is NOT air-tight. One option is a shoebox, but sometimes you'll need nicer storage for your crafting supplies. Don't we all sometimes 🙂 You can use this tote as an art caddy, it will make a perfect hideaway for paintbrushes, and keep them mold-free:

art caddy bag
Marie Michelle BM made this adorable art caddy tote to store her kids' art supplies.

You'll find this project tote pattern in the shop. Such handy storage for crafting supplies!

Make sure to save this brush making tutorial to Pinterest for when you need a fun activity for kids:

diy nature paint brushes

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diy paint brush

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Miranda

    March 27, 2017 at 3:42 pm

    I love this! It would be a great activity for the kids to find their own paintbrush materials!

    Reply
  2. Damjana at AppleGreen Cottage

    May 14, 2016 at 2:07 pm

    Thank you, Pam!

    Reply
  3. Pam @Threading My Way

    May 14, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    What a great idea, Damjana. The kids will love this.

    Reply
  4. Damjana at AppleGreen Cottage

    April 04, 2016 at 10:25 am

    Thank you, Cathy!

    Reply
  5. Heart

    April 02, 2016 at 6:58 am

    This reminds me of my childhood. I had done so many paint brushes out of leaves when I was young, too. Many of them were usually thrown the next day. Hahaha! It gives me a simple happiness to look back on those funny memories in the past. Thanks for this post.

    Reply
    • Damjana at AppleGreen Cottage

      April 04, 2016 at 10:26 am

      What a lovely comment, Heart!

      Reply

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