Anything but a Paintbrush

We did a fun project at a shelter for teens-at-risk: anything but a paintbrush. The project materials list included watercolors, a 6"x8" piece of watercolor notecard paper, various widths of masking tape, and whatever oddball material could be used to apply watercolor paint that was NOT a paintbrush. Some of the applicators included: cotton swab, torn piece of corrugated cardboard, bubble wrap, tissue paper, sponges of assorted sizes, shapes & materials, bits of cloth, and wine corks.Optional: colored pencils to outline around the masked areas.

The project included the following steps: 
1.       Use masking tape to create a simple design on a piece of watercolor paper. It could be strips of tape in various sizes in whatever configuration or tape could be shaped to form a person’s name.
2.       Use assorted materials—anything but a paintbrush—to apply watercolor paint over the entire surface. Apply 2-3 colors using various materials.
3.       Dry.
4.       Edge around the taped areas with colored pencils if desired.
5.       Remove the tape.
6.       Jazz up the white/clean areas as desired after the tape is removed.