Kick those nervous jitters to the curb with today’s Colorful Q-Tip Painted Back To School Apple craft idea!

There’s even a free dotted apple w/glasses printable to get your students started within a matter of minutes. Plus they can practice those fine motor skills right out the gate!

Using inexpensive q-tips as paint brushes, can be a very relaxing way to add color to your paper. All you need to do is hold a q-tip with your fingers {like a pencil} dip one end in some craft paint and then press it on your paper to create a simple dot. Repeat over and over again.

Because of the small shape and the ease of hand-grip, q-tips are great for working those fine motor skills with younger children {especially on the first day of school!}

My son who is eight {which some might think is to old for this craft but don’t be fooled} even had fun recreating this dotted apple with glasses design with me. We both shared the same paper plate with the designated paint colors but he got his own three “q-tip” paint brushes, as did I.

When we were done, the cleanup was easy! We just threw away the paint holding paper plate, as well as the used q-tips. Then we just displayed our “bright school year” masterpieces on the fridge, so they could dry completely.

Like I mentioned before, this is a great first day of school craft project for kids in the preschool and kindergarten age groups. I just love how each one can have a different and unique look to it!

You can recreate it by checking out the full tutorial below, as well as grabbing the free dotted apple printable file listed in the supply list {a huge thank you to dailyarthub.com for the clipart!}

Happy crafting, my dear friends. Don’t forget to share pictures of your children’s colorful Q-Tip Painted Back To School Apple with us! #gluedtomycrafts

Dotted Apple Craft Supplies:

• Free Dotted “Bright School Year” Apple Printable {Download it HERE!}
• White Cardstock
• Color Printer
• Small Paper Plate
• Q-Tips
• Red, Green and Brown Craft Paint
• Black Sharpie Marker
• optional – stickers, glitter, small jewels for sparkle

Directions:

• First things first – download our free dotted bright school year apple printable, listed above in the supply list.
• Next find it on your computer, right click it and print the file on a single sheet of white cardstock. Print as many as you like but only use our file for personal use only please.
• Now that you have the printable printed, go ahead and squirt a small amount of each color of craft paint on your paper plate.
• Add ONE q-tip to each paint color.
• Instruct children to pay attention to the colors of the dots in the apple printable. They should make red dots on the red marks {and so on and so on.}
• When they are done making all the dots, grab the black Sharpie marker.
• Have them draw in some eyes & a mouth for their apple.
• Add any other embellishments you see fit.
• Then display their custom one-of-a-kind dotted apple piece proudly for all to see!
• Discard the paper plate with the leftover paint and the used q-tips.

Make It Your Own:

Instead of using q-tips for a paint dotted pattern, you can be BOLD and use school glue & GLITTER instead! Have children make small dots of glue on the provided marks and let them SHAKE the glitter on top for a different look & feel.

Children can also skip making the “dotted pattern” and instead, just connect it all with one big painted line {like my son did on his!} He still used a q-tip as his paint brush but decided to follow his own crafty heart on this one :-)

Make crafty memories in the classroom with these crafty ideas from us!

Before you leave to recreate our Q-Tip Painted Back To School Apple post, be sure to check out our popular Simple Paper Bowl Apple – Kid Craft, Popsicle Stick Apple Frames and Stained Glass Pencil tutorials!