"You have permission to flick that paint"

The comments I heard after an art lesson this week were priceless.
"That was the the best art lesson ever!"
"That was SO much fun."
What we did was very simple. The students were creating a whimsical background for their next art project in Year 4 and I "allowed" the students to flick their watercolours on. Using tablet watercolour sets (old as the hills) and plenty of water, they loaded their brushes with colour. This was then flicked on to their work by holding their brush steady with one hand. With the other hand they used their thumb to press down just below the bristles and pointer finger to flick the bristles up. The students simply loved this activity. Another great idea is to use this process to create interesting papers to collage in mixed media artwork or as a background for printing or drawing. I don't know why I haven't done this more often!