What to do with this activity?

Marbling is a way of getting beautiful patterns onto paper. It gets its name because it sometimes looks like marble stone. 

It involves floating oil paints onto the surface of a shallow tray of water. Next, you carefully swirl the colours around with a tooth pick or bamboo skewer to make the patterns you want. Then a piece of non-shiny paper is laid very carefully onto the top to pick up the pattern and the paper is laid out on newspapers to dry. For good picture instructions have a look at this link from Adventures in Making. 

For perhaps an easier variation, try spreading shaving foam (not cream) on a shallow tray. Then sprinkle coloured paints onto the surface and swirl around. Have a look here for step by step instructions from The Artful Parent.