Tissue Paper Rainbow Art

We've been doing lots of reviewing as our school year winds down. We recently had a day to review colors (English, Spanish, and ASL) and I wanted a colorful art activity available to the children. I recalled an activity we had done some time ago that involved tissue paper pieces, water, and paper, so I began pulling the supplies to get ready for the children. We used trays (that had originally been drawers to a drawer file system), added art paper, put out multiple colors of tissue paper that had been torn or cut into small square-like shapes, and had water ready in a spray bottle. This is the provocation which greeted the children upon their arrival.

We encouraged the children to spray their paper lightly to help the tissue paper stick to it. Then they began choosing their colors and layout.

They were amazed when they began seeing the colors "bleed" from the tissue paper onto the art paper. It was interesting to see the blending of the colors like the pink and blue shown below.

After they were pleased with their arrangement, we encouraged them to once again spray the paper with water. We then laid the papers on a drying rack. The photo below shows what the dry art looks like on the drying rack.

Once it is all dry, the tissue pieces readily fall off and are discarded. The below photo shows the result after the tissue paper is removed.

Below are more samples of the dry art and after the tissue paper is removed.

What a beautiful project that each one is individually unique. It's also a great fine motor activity as the children work to move the tissue squares between their index finger and thumb to lift one piece at a time. What a great and colorful activity for our Color Day.