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Window Stenciling

Using tempera paint, your preschooler can decorate your window with leaf patterns.
By: Trish Kuffner, author of The Preschooler's Busy Book

Window Stenciling


Materials

  • Leaves in different shapes and sizes
  • Masking tape
  • Sponge
  • Clothespins
  • Tempera paint (orange, yellow, red, and brown), liquid
  • Newspaper

Directions

  1. On a fall walk with your child, collect several different types and colors of leaves.
  2. At home, attach rolled pieces of masking tape to the backsides of the leaves and arrange them on the window in the way you want them to appear in stenciled form.
  3. Make sure the leaves lay flat against the glass.
  4. Dip small pieces of sponge clipped onto clothespins into liquid tempera paints in fall colors.
  5. Blot on newspaper to absorb excess paint, then lightly dab the sponge around the edge of each leaf.
  6. Use a new piece of sponge for each color.
  7. When the paint is dry, carefully remove the leaves, leaving the outlines on the window.
  8. The leaf patterns can be easily removed with window cleaner.

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