Writing with sharpened sticks and paint

Writing with sharpened sticks is a fun way to build literacy skills and nature appreciation in children.

Have you ever used a sharpener to sharpen sticks? The idea popped into my head the other day, and I ran out into our garden to try it with a stick that was of similar thickness to a pencil.

It sharpened remarkably well and I thought sharp sticks would make a fun addition to our nature craft play time.

We’ve used sticks and paint in a previous activity before. We made beautiful art by in colouring in animal silhouettes using sticks and we’ve used the shavings created since, in wood shaving crafts.

This time though, I thought I’d let the girls decide how they would like to use the sharpened sticks. They wrote letters to fairies, of course!

What you’ll need for this activity

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• Sticks (similar thickness to a pencil)
• Sharpener
• Paint
• Paper

Writing with Sharpened sticks

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1. We sharpened the sticks with a sharpener. This was a fun way to teach my four year olds how to sharpen pencils without wasting an actual pencil. They really enjoyed sharpening sticks.
2. Set out some paint, paper and the sharpened sticks on the table.
3. Let your children go for it.

Write a letter to a fairy using the sharp stick

My eldest said she felt really earthy with the sharp stick in her hand and decided to write a letter to a forest fairy. She spent time gently dipping her stick into the paint before she wrote each letter. Writing with a stick (to a forest fairy) was pretty enchanting already but each letter turned out quite otherworldly too.

I couldn’t help myself and wrote a letter to the forest fairy too.

My youngest (by 9 mins)  kept watching us and decided that using the stick for writing was a brilliant idea and she joined in on the fun too.

Miss E wasn’t interested in writing a letter, instead she experimented with the stick by making dots, painting lines and then trying to place big blobs of paint on the paper. She had a glorious time.

If you’ve never sharpened a stick before and used it in your painting time, try it.  We thought it was such a fun writing activity. Enjoyable and educational too!