I have been wanting to make some Christmas light art with the girls for a couple of weeks now. I think strings of light bulbs look so lovely and are great for practicing patterning. I suddenly realised we could make a light bulb shape using a cardboard tube pinched at one end. It makes a great craft for young children.
You Will Need
- Paint in Christmas colors, including a grey for the bulb base
- Small paint brushes
- Toilet rolls
- Colored pens
- Card or paper to paint on
I poured out three christmas colours to use but actually any would work as well. We printed the light bulbs in a line with a simple pattern which I encouraged the children to carry on.
The paint made bubbles on top of the cardboard tube.
It doesn’t matter if you print them in a neat line or randomly, the effect is still lovely.
We then filled in the outline with paint.
Again they do not have to be perfectly neat. painting in the lines is difficult.
We used silver paint to stamp the top of the light bulbs. I used a rubber cube to do this but a potato print would work just as well.
Then we drew the light bulb string with black pen. It looked best if you connected the light bulbs with the line rather than drew across the top so it looks like they are threaded onto the wire.
Molly was really pleased with her finished picture. This is great for a 5-7 year old as they can produce something which turns out really well with little help.
Molly’s finished picture. We are going to cut it up into smaller sections to become Christmas cards but actually I think it looks lovely like this or maybe with a pattern all across the paper for wrapping. .
Pin for later!
If you liked this you might also like our Christmas Light Bulbs Sun catcher from last year.
For other inspiration check out these 50+ Christmas Crafts for Kids from The Best Ideas For Kids