At Home Art Activities using Grocery Bags

Did you know a grocery bag turns into a huge durable paper?

Here’s the trick…

Keeping it more or less folded. Cut off the bottom. Then cut down the middle of one side and open it up. It’s almost the size of a coffee table!

This paper is great to put down underneath a messy project (even spray paint!).

Here’s a video tutorial.

5 more things you can do with grocery bag paper:

1. Make a giant coloring sheet. Draw with a sharpie (expert drawing skills not required). Keep it big or cut it into smaller pieces. You can write your children’s names in block letters, draw simple shapes, numbers, trace items around your house, whatever you like! Have your kids pick out an art supply to color it in with – markers and crayons work great, but so does chalk! For the ages 1-3 crowd, I would also recommend tempera paint sticks. (Find out more about paint sticks in my upcoming blog post! Details from my original IG post is here.)
2. Create a crown. Check out details for this on the ArtBart blog!
3. Decorate!Draw or paint all over the brown paper. Limiting the color palette is always a great idea. For example, try taking out a bowl full of only blue art materials (different thickness markers, shades of blue crayons, Do a Dot markers, or put out a paper plate with two different blue paints or blue and white paint with q-tips, brushes, or TP rolls).Tip: Give them a couple materials at a time, not all at once. And do the dry materials first, paint comes last! After the paper is colored or the paint is dry, flip it over, draw out triangles (make a tracer if that’s easier), punch holes, and string a long yarn or ribbon through it. Ta-dah! Hang up your festive paper bag bunting. Then please snap a pic and tag me + #inspiredbyHCA so I can see!
4. Stand-up art project.Check out my directions for a standing city sculpture. I have a whole post on it here.
5. Design with Lines.My YouTube video can be found here!Materials : sharpie, crayons (these are my fav), watercolor paints, and a brush or 2.

Bonus:

For what it’s worth, I found it interesting that Bob Vila has a post on this too!