Flyswatter Painting

So the boys have been into arts and crafts lately. With the lack of crafts stores in Germany, it's sometimes hard to find things for them to do. I went to the German equivalent of the Dollar Tree (woefully inadequate replacement) and picked up some flyswatters. I'd seen this idea on (where else?!) Pinterest where you put paint daubs on a canvas and gave the kiddos a flyswatter and let them have at it. My boys are a: fans of paint and anything messy, b: really big fans of smacking/hitting things, so I knew they'd have a blast.

 

It turns out, though, that it's really really really messy. I would have tried it outside instead, which is probably a much better idea, but it was raining. Because it's Germany. And it's always raining.

 

If you look closely you can see the pain on his ear, cheek, eyebrows, hair...

 

It was like instant-gratification art. You get to smack the crap out of the paper and you get beautiful results. Link was a huge fan.

 

I was not a huge fan of the mess. We obviously got a little wild with our smacks, and by we, I mean them. But the fun was worth it. Nothing a little magic eraser can't help!

 

Here's our final results:

 

 

Link used a three color approach, while Drake wanted just red and blue.

 

I sealed the canvases with some glossy fixative and they now hang proudly in my foyer. Beautiful artwork with sentimental meaning at the price of fun. Win-win-win!