Thrift and Craft Your Own Rainbow Blocks

I love to thrift.  And I love natural materials.  So when I am thrifting, I am looking for interesting items in natural materials.
This past summer I came across this box of natural wood Jenga blocks.  The game itself is a bit challenging for my group but I thought I could put them out on a table and allow the Littles to build with them.  And then somewhere, while surfing the net, (probably Etsy), I came across a picture of multi-colored wooden blocks and I filed it away in the back of my mind.  I came across the blocks the other day and decided to try my hand at coloring them.

This project was simple and quick.  I had stained the blocks and they dried, while the Littles were napping.  You can't get better than that.

Supplies:
-Sargent Water Colors
-Paintbrush (I used a small flat brush)
-Paper Towel for rubbing off excess stain
-Sanitary gloves
-Jenga blocks

It was not necessary to use separate brushes.  The color came out of the brush and off the gloves between painting with a simple water rinse.

I put out a tray to dry the blocks and started on my first set of six blocks.  I used red, pink, teal, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple and mixed the pink and some black to make the burgundy.

The watercolor went on quickly and soaked in nicely.  The blocks dried incredibly fast.

I could have sanded the word Jenga off of each block.  Maybe I would next time but I'm sure it will not bother the Littles and it hardly shows up through the color.

If this interests you, give it a try.  It is a simple and inexpensive way to add color to your building table.