Search : painting

Handprint Flower: Flowers made from the handprints of one or more children make wonderful gifts!
Paper Mache Dinosaur Egg: Paper Mache Dinosaur Eggs are fun to make and are a great tool for imaginary play for young kids. If you place a plastic dinosaur toy inside, kids can have fun "hatching" the dinosaur: a fun idea for a dinosaur themed party...
Pirate Hat: Little Pirates will love to make and wear these pirate hats.
Paper Plate Dinosaur: This craft from the brilliant kidscraftweekly.com turns a paper plate into a moving Brontosaurus!
Roller Painting: Inexpensive Mini Paint Rollers can be used to create some really eye catching paintings - and even the smallest kids will have a blast doing this easy craft project.
Stars and Stripes: Painters Tape and a sponge are used to create this very cool looking version of the US flag. Great for 4th July Celebrations
Pom Pom Caterpillars: These cute caterpillars will certainly capture the imagination of your kids!
Marbled Valentine: Shaving foam and paint can be used by even the smallest artist to create beautiful marbled paper. Put that paper to good use in these gorgeous Valentines.
Butterfly Footprint: These butterflies are a beautiful way to turn a child’s footprint into a work of art. They make beautiful gifts if you do them on high quality paper and frame them – or if you make them directly onto canvas boards. They also make wonderful gift cards! Or, just do them for fun – what child doesn’t love painting their feet and stomping on paper!
Salt Ice Sculptures: These incredible salt-ice sculptures combine science, art and a big dose of fun! Simply take a large block of ice, salt and watered down paint – and combine! The salt and paint make the ice melt with interesting caves and crevasses which act as tunnels and lakes for the paint. The effect is stunning.
Inkblot Butterflies: These inkblot butterflies are intriguing for kids to make - simple dots of paint transform into beautiful symmetrical butterflies.
Car Track Painting: This is an activity for the smallest artists - and a particularly great activity for getting boys excited!
Coffee Filter Butterfly: Transform a coffee filter into a butterfly with this simple craft that is ideal for toddlers or preschoolers - but which can be enjoyed by kindergartners too. The best bit - spreading the colors together: the little ones will have so much fun watching the paints squish and mingle (and making a mess). And the end product is fun to play with too
Paper Plate Dragon (or Dinosaur): This activity created by dltk-holidays.com turns a paper plate and egg boxes into a cute dragon! You could easily adapt this to be a dinosaur instead.
Autumn Tree: This vibrant activity is a great one for a family or preschool group - participants of all ages can work together to create the leaves which an older child or adult can then cut out and put together to form a tree
Foil Painting: Painting on foil is a great sensory activity for young children. They will enjoy the feel of the foil in their hands, and the shine of the painting.
Hand Print Fall Tree: This project is one of Broogly's favorite - a great hand print activity for fall laden with autumn colors. But what makes it extra special is that kids don't just get to paint their hand - they get to paint their entire arm, making this a super fun project for toddlers and preschoolers!
Jack o Lantern Bottle: I love these little Jack o Lanterns - easy to make and so cute as decorations for your Halloween table.
Laminate Finger Painting: A piece of laminate shelving is an indispensable item in our craft supplies. It makes an excellent surface on which to do craft activities - it is easy to wipe clean, easy to move etc. Usually we place ours on top of the kitchen table to make craft clean up easy. However, it also makes an excellent surface on which to do finger painting. Fingers glide easily over the surface - so much fun for little ones! And super easy to wipe clean. You can't keep the art work - but you can take plenty of photos!
Paper Bag Jack o Lantern: A Paper Bag Painted Orange and stuffed with newspaper is the basis of this jack o lantern craft
Salt Resist Painting: This is one of my favorite painting activities. Sprinkle salt over wet watercolors and watch interesting and beautiful textures and patterns appear. This is truly an activity for all ages - easy enough for preschoolers - but also plenty of potential for older artists too.
String Painting: My kids had so much fun with this - dipping string into paint and then dragging across the paper creates interesting designs.
Watercolor Leaf Rubbing: These leaves are deceptively easy to create - even a preschooler can create them with minimal assistance.
Sailing Boat Collage: I created this project as a way to experiment with various paint techniques. I love the way that they turned out! This is not an activity to do in an afternoon - rather one to spread over a week or longer - each of the underlying "paintings" can be created separately in advance.
Chalk Drawings: Drawing with chalk on black construction paper produces wonderfully vibrant pictures. This is a great activity for all ages.
Coffee Filter Art: Take a coffee filter, make dots using washable markers, add water and watch as the ink travels and merges and makes pretty patterns.
Bubble Wrap Corn Cobs: Printing with Bubble wrap makes patterns that look just like corn cobs - and it is so much fun.
Bubble Wrap Prints: This is such a fun activity for kids of all ages. Simply paint on bubble wrap and then press onto paper to create dotty prints....
Glitter Candy Cane: Using masking tape to resist paint creates wonderful stripes, making this an ideal technique for making candy cane pictures with small children
Paint Chip Christmas Trees: Paint Chips are available in a wonderful array of colors. This Christmas Tree is created by cutting up a variety of green shades into tiny pieces and then making a christmas tree collage. Requires a bit of patience and dexterity, so probably not the best project for the youngest kids.
Painting with Marbles: Roll marbles through blobs of paint, or dip them in paint and roll them over paper! So easy, so fun AND produces amazing results that event the littlest artist will be proud of.
Puffy Heart Valentines: Create these special 3D heart cards using puffy paint and glitter.
Puffy Snowmen: My kids had so much fun creating these puffy paint snowmen. The paint, puffs up as it dries.
Exploding Volcano: What could be more exciting than creating and exploding your own volcano? A craft and a science project combined!
Potato Prints: Potato prints are a classic kids project. The materials are cheap, the results are fantastic - what's not to love! At it's most simple you can just cut potatoes in half and use them as circular stamps. You can increase the fun by creating fun shapes as described below. The potatoes in the paint are wonderfully slippery making this a great sensory project too!
Watercolor Resist - Rubber Cement: When painted on watercolor paper, rubber cement will resist watercolor paints - keeping the paper underneath white. Simply rub off the cement when the paint is dry.
Watercolor Resist Christmas Trees: Very simple, very effective - create Christmas tree snow scene pictures by painting rubber cement onto watercolor paper in the shape of a Christmas Tree and painting.
Rubber Cement Valentines: Make these beautiful Valentine cards by painting hearts onto watercolor paper using rubber cement and then painting.
Sharpie Coffee Filters: We discovered this project by accident whilst doing a different activity. Simple scribbles of markers can be turned into the most beautiful abstract art.
Paper Skateboards: These super cool paper skateboards will get even the most reluctant boy excited about art. They also make fantastic greetings cards for the boys in your life - simply stick them to a folded piece of card!
Glow Stick Art: This is a favorite for our family camping trips. Super fun and produces amazing pictures, but also an opportunity to learn a bit of science: light, motion & photography!
Nuts n Bolts Car: Ever since my son was able to walk he has picked up every shiny thing he has passed on the sidewalk. This project puts that collection to good use (helped by a raid of the trash and Dad's toolbox!). This would be a great project to do for Fathers Day
Egg Cup Flower Canvas: I saw this incredible project on the Rakers Family Blog and thought it would be a great project for the kids to do for Grandma's Birthday. She LOVED it.
Scratch Art: I was so excited to try this project with my kids, I remember seeing it demonstrated on the TV when I was a kid wishing I could try it.
Paper Plate Snakes: This is one of those classic paper plate projects. Cut a spiral in a paper plate and there you have it - a coiling snake.
Salad Spinner Art: You can create a spin art painting using a kitchen salad spinner: and if you use washable paints, you shouldn't have any trouble continuing to use it for your salads too!
Popsicle Airplanes: These easy to make airplanes are great fun to make and even better to play with. Preschoolers will love to fly these over and over again! You will need to help with assembling the plane but even small kids can help with painting it! These also make great gifts if you turn them into fridge magnets by adding a magnet to the base.
Shiny Art: Embossed Foil Pics: Using Sharpies to color on foil makes shiny art. You can also create embossed edges to your pictures by using glue to trace an outline underneath the foil. This is an especially cool effect for pictures of fish as they glimmer as if they were rushing through the water!
Sun Prints: Sun Prints are fantastic fun. All you need is a pack of light sensitive paper and your imagination! This is a great project for young and old alike. Younger kids will be fascinated by the magic of this project. Older kids will be able to use their imaginations to create pictures from objects - and a great opportunity to talk about the science of light and photography too!
Glowing Glow Bugs: These super cute glow bugs had my children captivated. They were flying them round the yard for ages - and then they lined up on their shelf as night lights when they went to bed!
Summer Strawberry: Preschoolers will love this Summer Strawberry Project
Paper Plate Ladybug: Paper Plate projects are my favorite - here's a simple one that will really engage preschoolers.
Handprint Christmas Tree: This makes a great gift or a lovely decoration that you can get out every Christmas to decorate your house. I made it on Canvas and it is a lovely memory of how tint winy my daughters hands were! She loves it when I put it up at Christmas
Popped Bubble Art: I've done this activity with my kids a few times now and it never fails to fascinate them - and me! Simply color bubble mix with food coloring and blow bubbles onto paper - as the bubbles land and pop, they create beautiful works of art. It goes without saying that this project is best done outdoors. A great one for those lazy summer afternoons.
Handprint Sun: Summery art for those tiny hands! This cheerful sun project will bring smiles to any home or classroom as children transform their hand prints into bright rays of summer light.
Mini Framed Art: These tiny works of art are adorable. Popsicle sticks are used to create a reusable picture frame, which is then filled with tiny works of art. You could put a photograph in the frame instead. Either way - they make great gifts.
Paper Bag Kite: These simple kites made out of paper bags really fly! Decorate using paint, markers or stickers, then take them to park or the beach and watch them soar.
Watermelon Slices: Preschoolers will have great fun making these "watermelon slices" from paper plates. This is a great project to do with kids for a Letter W theme, or on National Watermelon Day.
Monster Pencil Holders: These cute little monsters will keep your pencils in reach. Let your imaginations run wild to create weird and wonderful monsters of any shape and color out of air dry clay. A great project for boys to have on hand for a rainy day, as a back to school project or just as fun.
Flower Pencil Holders: These flower pencil holders made of air dry clay will brighten up the desk of any little girl. They also make great gifts for mothers day, for teacher appreciation or for Grandma's Birthday.
"Pencil" Cases!: These pencils are pencil cases! Great fun to make and very useful for storing all those pencils, crayons and pens. A fantastic project to do to celebrate going Back to School - or just because! This project is inspired by the brilliant Mister Maker.
Popsicle Stick Desk Organiser: Fed up of having pens, crayons, paintbrushes and pencils all over the place? Want to get organized before the kids go back to school? Why not have them make this popsicle stick desk organizer. This is a great engineering project that is fun to do - and so very useful! Customize the hight to suit your need - a few inches high to hold erasers or clips, 3 or 4 inches to hold crayons, or taller for pencils and pens. You can leave it unpainted, paint the popsicle sticks before you assemble, or paint the finish project. The choice is yours! This would also make a great gift for a teacher, or even for Dad for his Birthday or on Fathers Day.
Milk Art Science!: This project is incredible. The results are not only dramatic but are beautiful too - you'll be making art whilst learning about science. Your kids (whatever their age) will want to do this over and over so make sure that you have plenty of milk!
Hatching Dinosaur Eggs: The ultimate little dinosaur lovers activity - dinosaur egg hunts - with "real" hatching dinosaurs. Little plastic dinosaurs can be inexpensively purchased from party supply stores or online, making this not only an easy project - but a frugal one as well. Hide your eggs in a sand box, in a dinosaur nest made from shredded paper in a kiddie pool, or around the house or garden for the ultimate prehistoric egg hunt
Apple Prints: Little Kids will get a real kick out of this project - using a halved apple to make apple prints - along with leaf print leaves. It is a great craft project to welcome fall, to fill a letter A theme or for Back to School Activities. Just make sure you have extra apples so that you have some to munch on as well!
Styrofoam Apple Trees: It's always fun doing apple projects, but particularly so in the fall. Kids can create their own apple laden trees in this project.
Paper Apple Trees: These standing Apple Trees made from a paper bowl and a toilet roll are a bright and cheerful fall project. Apples are a great preschool theme - they compliment units about Letter A, Apples, and Back to School!
Stars n Stripes Pinwheels: Celebrate 4th July with these celebratory homemade pinwheels.
Uncle Sam's Hat: These cheerful hats are easier to make than they look, and are a great accessory for Independence Day on July 4th, for celebrating Uncle Sam's Birthday in September or to complement an American History Unit in preschool or elementary school. They would also make great centerpieces for a celebratory table.
Blown Bubble Prints: What child with a drink and a straw doesn't love blowing bubbles? Not exactly behavior that we're generally encouraging (it doesn't exactly go down well at the dinner table). Which is why toddlers and preschoolers will love this activity: using straws to blow LOTS of bubbles in soapy water colored with food coloring - and then making art by placing paper on top of the bubbles.
Frankenstein Monster Mask: These fun and not so scary Frankenstein Monster masks will provide much fun at Halloween, as a craft, a homemade costume or as a centerpiece on a Halloween table. Elementary age children should be able to complete most of this project on their own without much assistance.
Sparkly Spider Web: These amazing sparkly Spider's Webs are deceptively easy to create. White glue is used to create a spider web shape on watercolor paper. Once dry, watercolor paint is then brushed over. The glue will resist the paint so that the web shape stands out from the painted background. The addition of glitter gives the web that glittery effect reminiscent of an early dew covered morning. A simple glittery eyed spider finishes the effect.
Leggy Spiders: These Long Legged Spiders are so straightforward that even preschoolers won't have any trouble making them with a bit of help. Elementary age children will have fun customizing them with different colored legs and if desired by adding designs to the abdomen. They will enjoy hanging them around the house or classroom as Halloween decor. .
Moon Paintings: One of our favorite activities is using salt to create texture on watercolor paintings. In this activity Salt and Glue are used to turn a simple watercolor painting into the surface of the moon! Leave as is for a great Space themed project or add some black card silhouettes and you have a spooky Halloween picture.
Pumpkin Bowl Picture: These pumpkins have handprint leaves - a fantastic Halloween or Thanksgiving project to do at home with your preschooler or in a preschool classroom. It incorporates both sensory and fine motor elements: making hand prints, scrunching up paper bags, and cutting and gluing yarn.
Handprint Spiders: A perfect Halloween project for the Preschooler or Toddler: easy, quick and oh so cute.
Cute Lion: My kids loved creating these cute lions. Not only are they easy to create, but they look super cute too. Great for that rainy day at home, or to complement a Jungle or Letter L theme at preschool.
Lemon!: Once finished these lemons feel (to touch) remarkably like real lemons, which is cool! And also makes this a great sensory project for preschoolers: touch (texture), sight (vibrant yellow colors) and taste - because it is just wrong not to accompany this activity with either a wedge of lemon to explore or a small glass of lemonade!
Tissue Paper Painted Fall Leaves: Toddlers and Preschoolers will love this autumn project. Simply pile small pieces of torn tissue paper onto a sheet of paper and spray with water. The colors from the tissue paper will bleed onto the paper and will merge, mingle and blend to make beautiful subtle patterns. Using fall colored tissue paper (reds oranges and yellows) and cutting out the finished art work into leaf shapes makes beautiful fall leaves. Mount the leaves onto a paper branch for a beautiful fall picture.
Halloween Monster Egg Heads: Let your imagination go wild creating these fun crazy hair monsters. Have your kids start them a couple of weeks before Halloween and they will be ready to sit alongside your jack-o-lanterns on your doorstep, or take pride of place on your Halloween Party Table.
Egg Heads: This is a fantastic project that will provide much entertainment for the kids. It is very exciting to watch as the hair begins to grow, and grow and grow. Use wheat grass seeds (available in most hardware or garden stores) for truly spectacular hairy growth.
Acorn Cinnamon Sun Catchers: These Suncatchers bring the best of fall to your room - they look pretty and the cinnamon used in the project makes your house smell great too! A perfect project to do with toddlers or preschoolers who will enjoy sprinkling the cinnamon.
Froggy Puppets: These frog's don't just look good, they "ribbit"! My 3 and 6 year olds both loved these frog puppets. The wonderful thing about them is although adult help will be required to build the puppets, smaller children will enjoy painting the plates and creating the egg cup eyes and will be so proud of their finished froggies.
Splatter Paintings - Pollock Style: Jackson Pollock was made famous for producing art from splatter's of paint. It's not uncommon to hear people viewing his art say - "my kids could do that". In this project, you let your kids try to do just that - and you will be amazed by the results. The finished artwork will be probably be worthy of a space on your living room wall. But, the best part of this project is the process - it is truly a means for self expression. There is something incredibly therapeutic about watching the art emerge as you splash the paint onto the canvas. Just be sure to do it outside with where the mess is ok, and wear clothes you don't mind being covered in paint!
Sparkling Bonfire / Campfire Picture: There's nothing like gathering round a nice roaring fire, whether that be at the end of a day's camping or as part of Bonfire Night Celebrations (in the UK) on the 5th November. This cute fire picture allows you to safely bring some of the fun inside.
Egg Carton Owl: These owls made from egg cartons have tremendous character and can be put together very easily. Children will love painting the egg cartons and adding the feathers. A great project for fall to make a change from leaves - or do anytime to support a letter "O" theme - or just because! Using white feathers and dabbing on brown paint makes a wonderfully realistic mottled feather effect. But you could also use colored feathers for a brighter an owl.
Glittery Leaves: If it's damp and wet outside, don't fear, you can make your own amazing autumn leaves by painting brown paper bags. We sponge painted with several colors of metallic tempura paint and added veins made out of glitter for a beautiful shining look. Older children will enjoy creating their own color designs, and leaf shapes but don't overlook this project for the preschoolers. Younger kids will have great success sponge painting - and once 4/5 can even attempt to cut out the leaves themselves. They'll just need some help creating the veins.
Cheerful Fall Tree: Creating your own fall tree can be super fun - and although this one looks time consuming it's really easy to put together. What's more, all the members of your family can take part making the leaves. This would be a great group project in a preschool or kindergarten classroom as you could create a class tree with leaves from each child. The leaves can be as small or large as you like - and so can the tree!
Festive Bell: A pretty Christmas bell that can be used to decorate the house or as a Christmas card or just for fun
Simple Christmas wreath: A very simple Christmas decoration that younger kids can do quickly and easily. There are lots of options for decorating these - sequins and spangles, painted pasta shapes, glitter glue, buttons to name a few.
Canvas wall picture 3D bufferflies and flowers: This makes a lovely picture for the wall. I wanted a project that my daughter and I could do together and keep. Would also make a great project to do for Mothers Day, or as a gift for Grandma.
White crayon surprise picture: This is great for pre-school kids and is so quick and easy
Egg Cup Christmas Trees: The is a fantastic Christmas project to do with toddlers and preschoolers. Egg cups are painted and stacked to make Christmas Trees which are then decorated with spangles and gems. The finished trees will take pride of place on any mantlepiece.
Reindeer Foot / Hand Print: ADORABLE Foot and Hand Print project that makes a great Christmas Keepsake - or cute Christmas Cards for Family members. You could do this with baby hand and foot prints. And toddlers and preschoolers will have a blast watching the reindeer faces emerge from their prints.
Sparkly Christmas Tree: I was so excited by the results of this festive holiday project. It's simple to do, but engaging for kids of any age - and the results are so pretty. You can make the finished trees into pictures - or turn them into special, one of a kind greetings cards.
Hanukkah Menorah: Younger children will be able to make and "light" this menorah all by themselves this Hanukkah! A fantastic project for preschool age children.
Painting in the Rain: This project is the perfect way to brighten up a grey and gloomy rainy day by using the rain itself to create beautiful artwork. What better excuse to don those raincoats and rainboots and combine making art with some puddle stomping! No rain? Just use a watering can with a fine nozzle, or a spray water bottle to create the same effect.
Mondrian by Kids: These incredibly simple paintings in the style of Dutch Painter Piet Mondrian are a great way to get kids involved in learning about abstract art and the beauty of simple geometric images. The creation of the series of squares and rectangles is surprisingly satisfying and the creative process very rewarding. This project is ideal for elementary age kids and even older preschoolers can easily have a go. Older children may prefer to create their black outlines using rulers and black pen. That way the width of the lines can be varied.
Watercolor Flowers: These are SO SIMPLE to make and yet they look fantastic. It's worth doing a few and keeping them on hand as they are really useful to make gift tags and birthday cards. Or combine several to make a collage or a spring wreath. Preschoolers will have fun doing this project and older kids (and adults) will enjoy creating more complex designs.
Gelatin Printing Adventure: This project is seriously addictive! The process is extremely fun and interactive. And the results are amazing. In other words this is a great introduction to print making for kids - and one that even smaller kids can do and enjoy. First, you make a gelatin plate. This is quite straightforward and basically involves creating a slab of firm gelatin: a process that is fun for older kids to help with. then you have fun applying paint to the plate, and using everyday objects as brushes and stencils to ensure that when you place the paper over the top of the plate to make print, you get fantastic results. Note: don't be put off by the wordy instructions - the procedure is actually very quick and easy once you get the hang of it!

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