Yesterday, I gave a workshop on the theme my dream pet pal to a group of 20 children in Ottawa’s largest recreation centre.

We stayed away from cats, dogs, hamsters and rabbits! When you dream, you might as well dream big.  We chose wild animals such as tigers, jaguars, leopards, bears and monkeys, that the children would tame with their paint brush.

Each kid created a mask of the wild animal of their dreams using paper plates as their base. I always start my workshop by explaining certain techniques, for example:

• how to give volume to the ears,
• how to hold your paint brush,
• how to paint fur and hairs,
• how to use a deer foot brush to paint the spots of certain animals, etc.

In my experience, some children don’t know how to properly hold a paint brush. That means either that they were never shown how to hold a paint brush at school, or that they never had a chance to use one. In either case, it’s really a pity. However, the solution is very simple; just hold the brush as you would hold a pen or a pencil. A proper position gives the child better control and painting the project becomes that more enjoyable!

For more ideas, see the section on masks on the Animaplates website.