Painting with Pool Noodles

Matthew is a late sleeper generally (hallelujah!) but that means that by the time he wakes up, it's usually already too hot for him to be outside. So we're having to get more creative with inside activities to fill that extra time we would normally be out.

This week I picked up a pool noodle at the grocery store.

Today I brought it home and proceeded to slice it into little medallions. My trusty scissors and I went to work carving and whittling away different shapes into the foam and after about 20 minutes, I had 6 or 7 pieces.

I sat Matthew down with some paint and the shapes and we went to town.

I already had the paint and the paper. The noodle was $1.99 and I only used about a foot of it so I have the rest of it left for other projects. So using only 1/4th of it means that this project cost me an additional 50cents on top of what I had on hand. Not too shabby!

My tips:
Use sharp scissors and you'll get cleaner lines than I did.
Make sure your slices are straight otherwise the image won't stamp right.
Don't make your cuts too close together because it starts to shred the foam.
Wash them right away and you can use them again!

I'd welcome some suggestions for other shapes. The noodles I've seen so far have been perfectly round. I'm hoping to find one of the scalloped ones so I can make some flowers too.

Let me know if you try this!