Recently I was cleaning out the paintbrush drawer and this is what I found
Does anybody else have brushes that look like these?!
YIKES!
While I was going through the brushes one by one
I decided it was time to teach the girls how to care for their paintbrushes
I suppose I should have taught them sooner
but
better late than never!
Here's what we focused on:
Holding the brush like a pencil
This was hardest for Little A (2) but once she got the hang of it she had so much more control over her brush strokes
Loading the brush
Instead of sticking the paintbrush all the way into the paint we found out that sticking the bristles in halfway works just as well
AND
it's less messy
Rinsing the brush in water
Usually the girls are jabbing their brushes down into the bottom of the jar causing the bristles to bend or break,
swirling the paintbrush gently around will keep the bristles like new
Getting the excess water off
Tapping the brush on the edge of the jar flicks water everywhere,
we practiced rubbing the bristles across the edge instead
Blotting the brush
Blotting the brush on a washcloth (or paper towel) soaks up the water before dipping the brush back into the paint
Next, I worked with Miss C (4) on painting lines
My main goal for this was to help her realize that one brush can make several different lines by just adjusting how hard you press the brush onto the paper
She really had a difficult time with this
Once I placed my hand around her hand I soon realized she's been pressing about as hard as she can every time she paints
Holding her hand lightly gave her the chance to feel
light pressure versus heavy pressure
As soon as she knew the feeling she really enjoyed seeing what lines she could make
When we were done with painting I had the girls clean their brushes
a little swirl around in some warm soapy water
gently reshaping the bristles
(not squeezing!)
then setting them in the jar to dry before placing them back in the drawer
Now that we've learned the basics it will become routine and we should be able to use our brushes for years to come!
Do you do anything to keep your brushes like new?
Oh I'm SO glad you posted this! We definitely need to take better care of our brushes. And I think that showing R how to apply different forms of pressure would really benefit him. In painting, coloring, etc. I can't believe I never thought of that before! Thank you!
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