Jingle Bell Painting

Have you heard of jingle bell painting?

It’s what we’ve named this fun process art activity that we do every winter.  But, I have to admit that when I was in the classroom, I always dreaded pulling out the copious amounts of Jingle Bells that we had stashed in our winter box.  There was something about seventeen children shaking bells and singing at the top of their lungs that started to be…well, a bit loud!  So, this season, I challenged myself to use jingle bells with art instead of limiting the bells to just shaking (which is great, too!).

 

This activity is inspired by marble painting.

You roll marbles covered in paint around in a box or tray.  When I first saw my co-worker set it up, I thought: What’s the point of that?  I was still thinking that artwork needed to have an end goal.  I wanted parents to come in and think, that looks nice!  But, now I know better!  There is so much that goes on during the process of rolling marbles while they are covered in paint.  I think the biggest benefit of marble painting is fine motor control as a child moves the box up and down in order to roll the marbles.  Hand eye coordination as they move their hands and watch the marbles as well as cause and effect: what happens when I move the box?  What happens to the marbles?  So, I just had to have a winter version!

Materials for Jingle Bell Painting

• Open box with short sides or a tray
• Paper
• Paint
• Jingle bells
• Cups (for paint and jingle bells)
• Spoons (helps to get the jingle bells out of the paint cups)

I started by dumping two of the paint covered jingle bells onto the paper.  Then, I just asked my daughter: What do you think will happen if you move the box?  She picked it up immediately, and tried to make the jingle bells move.

Tip: If the jingle bells are having trouble rolling, add a little water to the paint!

You could use primary colors here to explore coloring mixing as well, but I let my daughter chose out the colors that she wanted.  The jingle bells did make a slight sound when they ran into the sides of the box, so there was an added sensory experience as well.  Again, touching on cause and effect – a jingle bell hits the side and makes a sound!

My daughter was so very proud of her art work.  It may not look like anything special to someone passing by, but she and I both know what hard work went into her creation!

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