Skyline Craft

Use a simple toothbrush and a splatter painting technique to create this sparkling skyline work of art! For kids who love the big city, this is a great way to learn about and identify famous buildings and monuments in different cities. Kids get to experiment with texture, color and negative space while making a piece of art for the fridge or wall.

What You Need:

• Sheet of blue construction paper
• Sheet of white cardstock
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Black oil pastel
• Toothbrush
• Tempera paint in yellow and white
• Cup of water
• Paper plate
• Tape

What You Do:

1. Have your child place the white cardstock horizontally and sketch a skyline of his favorite city, or from his imagination. If he’s drawing from imagination, encourage him to consider different shapes for the buildings and use a ruler to create straight lines.
2. Now he can separate the buildings from the sky by cutting out the outline of the top of the skyline.
3. Save the piece with the buildings and place it on top of the sheet of blue construction paper, making sure the edges of both sheets line up. Use a bit of tape to keep the sheets together while you proceed with the next step.
4. Squeeze a bit of white and yellow paint onto separate paper plates.
5. Now your child can dip the toothbrush into the cup of water and then into some paint. To create a splatter, hold the toothbrush over the edge of the skyline and rub the bristles to release a splatter of stars. Encourage your child to aim the paint at the edge of the buildings and alternate between yellow and white paint.
6. Let the paint dry, and remove the cardstock from the blue sheet of paper. This template can be used to make more skylines
7. Now your child can make the painting detailed by adding windows, doors and lights with black oil pastel.