Updated March 2024

We love painting, but sometimes it can feel like we do the same old painting activities over and over again. So here are 7 new painting ideas to try!

And if you are looking for recommendations on what paint to use, check out our post on the best paints for kids.

Painting Ideas for Kids

1. Spin Painting

All you need is paint, circular paper, and a salad spinner for this super-fun action art activity.

2. Drip Painting

Explore gravity in art with this easy and fun art activity that results in unique artwork every time.

3. Blot Art

Also known as blotto painting, smush painting, or squish painting. No matter what you call it, though, it’s a super fun art activity.

4. Pointillism Art with Cotton Swabs 

Q-tip painting is an easy art project you can set up quickly. It can also be used to learn about Seurat, Pointillism, and Impressionism.

5. Blow Painting with Straws

Simple, yet lots of fun for kids of all ages. Use a straw to blow liquid paint around on the paper, creating interesting designs.

6. Splatter Painting

Splatter painting is a favorite messy art activity for kids of all ages!

7. Rainbow Scrape Painting

Scraper art is a fun, process art activity for kids and can be used to create a variety of textures and looks, including scraper art rainbows.

More Painting Ideas for Kids

• The Best Art Ideas for Kids in 2023
• The Best Paints for Kids
• 11 Amazing Painting Activities for Preschoolers
• Painting with Wheels
• Splat Painting: Easy and Fun Action Art for Children
• Painting for Kids at The Artful Parent

Want even more creative ideas?

Check out our Artful Parent Starter Pack!

Engage your kids through art and creativity with this printable booklet where you’ll find all of our best tips, tricks, and ideas for getting started on your artful parenting journey!

SHOP NOW

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Updated March 2024

To celebrate Earth Day next week, our team gathered together a list of 30 Earth Day activities for kids.

Through art, there exists a great opportunity to teach children to be good stewards.  Children learn to reuse lids, caps and milk cartons. To turn a cardboard box into a castle, fort, or robot. To recycle cardboard tubes and create sculptures.

The possibility to assemble and make new things while recycling or upcycling the old sparks children’s imagination as they explore these non-traditional materials.

And a short walk outside with my son allows us the opportunity to breathe deep, soak in the sunshine and fresh air. We gather pinecones and sticks, some rocks and more sticks. Then to head home with our new treasures.

As we collect recyclables, save cardboard and consider how to give something old a new purpose, our kids are watching and learning this skill themselves. Below are some ideas that will hopefully inspire and put some of that recycling bin to creative use.

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day Activities for Kids

7 Recycled Art Projects Using Reusable Materials

1. Make a Cardboard Loom for Kids

Learn a simple weaving activity for kids with cardboard looms and recycled fabric scraps. Then create a beautiful piece of art to hang in your home!

2. Self-Portrait Collages Using Recycle Bin Materials

Learn how to create a self-portrait collage with simple recycle bin materials. A fun and educational activity for kids that helps them explore self-identity.

3. Make DIY Costumes from Recycled Materials

Here are a few simple techniques for making fabulous DIY kids costumes with a variety of recycled materials.

4. The BEST Toddler Art Activities

Paint a nature wall, create a collaborative recycled wall, reuse plastic caps and lids for sensory bins & use sticks, leaves and the like for set-ups!

5. Milk Carton Sailboat

Perfect for the sailboat loving kid in your life–use a recycled milk carton to create an amazing little sailboat (from Art Camp Studio).

6. Simple Flower Crowns from Paper Bags

Kids can feel like royalty with this awesome craft using recycled paper bags. 

7. Painted Wood Blocks Sculptures

An easy sculpture project using wood scraps that’s fun to make for kids of all ages. 

14 Recycled Art Projects Using Cardboard

1. Mixed Media Collage Portraits for Kids

These adorable collage portraits are a great way to reuse a cardboard box and are SO cute. 

2. Make Cardboard Robot Puppets that Move

These robot puppets are friendly on the Earth and SO fun to play with and create. 

3. Create Monochrome Art Collages

Gather collage materials and cardboard to make these vibrant little collages.

4. Make DIY Valentines for Kids

Make adorable valentine hearts that are great for Valentine’s Day, or any day really!

5. Make Miro-Inspired Magic Animal Masks

Create wild and colorful animal masks with cardboard, paint, and a few other materials. 

6. Make a Rainbow Cardboard Sculpture

Create a colorful stacked rainbow sculpture using painted cardboard rainbows.

7. Drip Painting

Create a DIY cardboard easel and explore gravity in art with drip painting that results in unique artworks every time.

8. Make Colorful Cardboard Tree Sculptures

These cheerful cardboard sculptures look like trees and are super easy and fun to make.

9. Make Cardboard Masks for Kids

Create vibrant cardboard masks perfect for imaginative play!

10. Giant Cardboard Donuts

Just looking at these giant cardboard donuts is sure to bring a smile to your face (from Art Bar Blog).

11. Make a Cardboard Castle for Hours of Pretend Play

Need we say more? 

12. Make DIY Stamps with Cardboard

Design and create your very own stamps to print with.

13. Make Cardboard Building Discs

Kids can create their own building material by transforming a box into cardboard building discs. Stack the discs to make these awesome sculptures!

14. Create a Cardboard Art Forest

Create an amazing magic forest with this easy cardboard art project for kids. Makes a fun creative play setup for kids.

8 Nature Art Projects for Earth Day

1. Nature Art Ideas for Kids

Try one of these fun nature art activities for young children: paint with mud, print with leaves, create a nature weaving or petal playdough!

2. Make a Nature Mobile for Kids

A beautiful craft to showcase your child’s nature treasures. 

3. Make a Magical 3D Nature Suncatcher

Use a cardboard box to create a unique and fun way to experiment with light, color, and natural materials.

4. Nature Drawing: How to Draw Feathers

Kids can make their own feather art with this great opportunity to explore some of nature’s patterns, shapes, and lines. 

5. Make a Nature Diorama

Gather pinecones, leaves and seed pods on a nature walk. Then paint and assemble these materials with this fun nature diorama project for kids.

6. Make a Flower Suncatcher

A simple and beautiful project using light and color. 

7. Try Flower Pounding

Flower pounding is such a fun process art activity! Make prints on fabric with the pigment of flowers. Then turn the flower prints into beautiful flags.

8. Or Flower Printing!

Start by gathering flowers and leaves from your garden or backyard. Then you can use just about any kind of paint you have to make gorgeous flower prints!

Which of these Earth Day activities will you try with your family?

More Spring Activities for Kids

• 30 Spring Activities for Kids
• Nature and Garden Crafts for Kids
• 12 Ideas for Spring Crafts for Kids
• 13 Nature Walk Activities for Kids
• 7 Children’s Books About Spring
• 20 Spring Crafts for Kids

Want even more creative ideas?

Check out our Spring Creativity pack!

Let creativity blossom with this fun bundle of art activities perfect for Spring!! This 40-page printable eBook is full of coloring pages, drawing prompts, games, and more!

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Updated March 2024

We all love symmetry painting, right? Kids love it. It’s easy, fun, and the result is unique every time.

These symmetry paintings are also known by many other names. Some people call them inkblot prints, blotto painting or prints, smash art, smush art, squish painting, and more.

Regardless of the name, what could be more perfect for painting butterflies?!

They turn out beautifully every time!

Here’s a video of the butterfly painting art activity in action.

How to Paint Butterflies

MATERIALS

• Paper
• Scissors
• Tempera paint
• Small cups
• Spoons

Variations and Ideas

• Add details to your butterflies after the paint dries. For example, you could draw details or faces over the dry paint with markers. Or glue googly eyes on the faces.
• You can also make regular symmetry paintings (on rectangular paper), then cut the butterflies out after the paintings dry.
• Tack a kaleidoscope of butterflies onto the wall together (that’s what a group of butterflies is called!) or string them into a butterfly bunting.

More Nature Painting Ideas

• Gorgeous Watercolor Butterflies
• 5 Nature Based Art Ideas for Toddlers & Preschoolers
• 22 Nature Art Ideas for Kids
• 13 Nature Walk Ideas
• Painting Butterfly Mobiles
• 12 Ideas for Spring Crafts for Kids

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My family has been on a big space kick, ever since we visited the Kennedy Space Center this winter. My kids already loved stargazing, but our visit took things to the next level. Now we are deep into an outer space exploration.

Naturally, we’ve done lots of art exploration to go along with this newfound interest and painting these planets was easily one of our favorite space art projects.

If you’ve never added rubbing alcohol to a watercolor picture, you’ve got to try it! The alcohol resists the water, creating dots and swirls. It makes for a perfect planet-painting technique.

How to Paint Watercolor Planets with Rubbing Alcohol

MATERIALS

• Watercolor paper (we really like OOLY’s circular watercolor paper but you can also use regular watercolor paper and cut it into circles)
• Watercolor paints (you can use liquid watercolors or a palette)
• Droppers and small jars
• Rubbing alcohol

Once you’ve added as many drops of rubbing alcohol to your planet as you like, set it aside to dry and make another!

We made planets of all sizes and colors until we ran out of round paper. This is one of our favorite watercolor techniques and certainly our favorite way to paint planets!

More Watercolor Activities for Kids

• How to Do Plastic Wrap Painting with Watercolors
• How to Do Watercolor Painting with Salt
• 11 Fun Watercolor Ideas for Kids
• How to Make Starry Night Art Cards
• 5 Easy Watercolor Ideas Using Resist Techniques
• The Best Space Art Ideas for Kids

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Updated April 2024

We don’t know about you, but our kids are into space right now! Pretending to be astronauts, reading and learning about space and NASA, you name it and they’re into it!

And of course, you can’t explore space without creating some really cool art along the way! Here are some of our favorite space art activities. These projects are open-ended and great for a wide range of ages. Plus, they provide the opportunity for kids to learn about space while they create, making it an educational experience too!

And if you’re looking for some books for inspiration, check out our list of the Best Children’s Books About Space!

The Best Space Art Ideas for Kids

1. Rubbing Alcohol Swirly Planets

We LOVE the way rubbing alcohol makes watercolor paint swirl around! To make planets and moons, cover a round piece of watercolor paper with lots of paint. While the paint is still wet, use a dropper to drop rubbing alcohol onto it and watch as craters and holes appear on your planet!

2. Sparkly Salty Night Skies

To create a sparkly painting, cover your watercolor paper with paint (we used blues and blacks). Once the paper is completely filled, sprinkle coarse salt onto the wet paint. This creates an effect that looks very much like a galaxy far, far away! 

When the paintings are completely dry, brush off the salt to reveal a sparkly sky. If you’re feeling extra starry, add star stickers before you start painting to create a sticker-resist effect. Or you can flick watered down white paint onto your dry painting for even more stars!

3. Geometric Constellations

To create these fantastic geometric constellations, start with a wet wash on watercolor paper, then blend on watercolors. While it is still wet, scrunch up a big piece of plastic wrap on top of the paper.

Once the paint is dry, remove the plastic wrap. The wrinkled plastic creates all kinds of interesting lines and shapes in the paint, perfect for inspiring constellations. Use a metallic sharpie and a ruler to connect a few lines, making dots or stars at each intersection. Your kids will love creating their own unique constellations!

4. Outer Space Geoboards

If you want to create a three-dimensional space project, try an outer space geoboard! Create your own solar system with stars, planets, and moons on a round piece of cork board painted black.

Rubber bands connect the thumbtack stars to create cool constellation designs. We love that these geoboards can be based on our real solar system, or completely imaginary!

5. Neon Galaxies

We love a watercolor resist technique, and oil pastels might be our favorite way to create this cool effect. Use neon oil pastels to draw planets, stars, swirly galaxies, and even a dotted Milky Way on a large piece of watercolor paper. Then paint blue, purple, and black watercolors all over the drawings and watch as the neon colors pop up through the dark paint!

6. Spin Art Planets

Use one of our favorite action art activities to make a solar system of planets! Spin painting with a salad spinner is super easy and super fun. Use realistic colors to make real planets (think: green and blue for Earth, reds for Mars, browns and oranges for Jupiter) or any color combination you like for some imaginary planets!

You could also use just about any of our favorite art activities to make planet: shaving cream marbling, splatter painting, blow painting, you name it!

7. Out of this World Sensory Play

Use kinetic sand or your favorite sensory material (try black beans for a nighttime sky!) toss in a few space toys (we love these planets and these NASA figures) or even some glow in the dark stars and watch as your kids explore and create using their senses.

8. Galaxy Playdough

How amazing does this black and sparkly playdough look?! Make a batch of your favorite homemade playdough and use candy coloring to dye it black (you need to use the candy coloring; regular food coloring isn’t strong enough make it truly black). Add some glitter, sequins, and stars and you’re ready for a deep space sensory exploration!

Which of these awesome space art activities will you try this week?

For many of these projects, we used our favorite OOLY art products:

• Lil’ Watercolor Paint Pods
• Chroma Blends Watercolor Paint Set (Neon)
• Lil Paint Brush Set
• Chroma Blends Circular Watercolor Paper
• Chroma Blends Watercolor Paper

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Updated April 2024

Watercolors are easily one of our top favorite art materials for little kids! We use liquid watercolors and watercolor palettes. We also love these tempera paint pods that act like a watercolor (they’re pricey but the pods are large and last forever!).

See also: The Best Paints for Kids

For paper, we like watercolor paper, which is thick and doesn’t warp with the watercolors. If you want to get fancy, try this circular pad of watercolor paper! You can also use mat board remnants from frame shops (free!) or the matte side of poster board (super cheap).

See also: The BEST Paper for Kids Art

Here are some of our very favorite watercolor craft ideas for kids! We hope you try them all!

Watercolor Ideas for Kids

1. Geometric Watercolor Art

Geometric watercolor art is beautiful and easy to make with this saran wrap technique. Simply paint with watercolors, then scrunch saran wrap up on top of wet paint. Let dry and see your unique geometric designs!

2. Paint Watercolor Planets with Rubbing Alcohol

Learn how to use paints and rubbing alcohol to make beautiful watercolor planets. Create your own mini universe with this fun art activity!

3. Painting Lace

Learn how to paint lace with kids using liquid watercolors. Then turn the colorful lace into a beautiful wall hanging!

4. Paint a Watercolor Geode

Learn how to paint a watercolor geode in 5 easy steps! A wonderful watercolor painting activity to pair with learning about geodes and rocks.

5. Make Flowers with Paper Plates

Create 3D watercolor flowers using paper plates with a few things you likely have at home right now. Find out how to cut and paint giant flowers for a fun and relaxing watercolor art activity for kids.

6. Try Watercolor Painting with Salt

Get a starry night sky effect by painting with watercolors and salt. This easy watercolor technique produces a beautiful star-studded sky.

7. Make These Amazing Yayoi Kusama Inspired Dot Paintings

Create amazing and colorful dot paintings inspired by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. You can use a variety of art materials with this project, including watercolors.

8. Watercolor Crayon Resist on Canvas

We love wax resist painting and this one is especially fun! Watch crayons melt on a heated canvas for a vibrant piece of artwork.

9. Paint Butterflies with Liquid Watercolors

How to paint butterflies with liquid watercolors using the rubbing alcohol technique for the decorations on the butterfly wings. This is a fun art idea for kids of all ages, and adults, too!

10. Draw Abstract Self Portraits

Learn how to draw abstract self-portraits for kids in 6 simple steps! Then paint with watercolors to make the portraits pop!

11. DIY Paper Twirlers

These colorful paper twirlers are easy to make and mesmerizing to watch! Make and decorate your own beautiful paper twirlers using the watercolor resist painting technique.

What do you think? Which of these fun watercolor ideas will you try?

More Watercolor Ideas for Kids

• 12 Watercolor Art Ideas for Kids (with a Printable Guide!)
• 6 Easy Watercolor Ideas Using Resist Techniques
• 7 Watercolor Techniques for Kids
• How to Paint Watercolor Flowers for Kids
• How to Paint Watercolor with Markers
• How to Make Pointillism Art with Cotton Swabs

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Updated April 2024

As an art teacher, I am constantly introducing young children to new process-based art techniques, like salt painting, printmaking, and collage. Sometimes we have piles of art looking for a home. You probably have the same problem at your home!

Making art books with young children is like an active art portfolio you can enjoy over and over again. It’s a great coffee table book and a wonderful way to share your child’s artwork all contained in one space.

There are lots of ways you can make an art book. It can be big, small, and anywhere in between.

Here’s how we make ours.

DIY Art Books for Kids

MATERIALS

• Watercolor paper for the cover
• Craft paper or construction paper for the inside pages
• String or yarn for binding

You can also make art books for special occasions. We made some in art class for Mother’s Day that were so special. We included quotes on each page from the artist about what they love about their mom. It was such a beautiful exchange between mother and daughter.

Regardless of the occasion or no occasion at all, art books can make a precious keepsake to hold onto for years and years to come. What would you put in your art book?

Note: Your art book can be any size you want. I’m just sharing what we did but get creative. It’s your art book!

More Ways to Reuse Kids’ Artwork

• 13 Ways to Reuse Children’s Art
• 6 Easy Ways to Display Kids Artwork
• 40 Handmade Gift Ideas that Kids Can Make

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Updated April 2024

Painting with oil pastels and baby oil is an Artful Parent classic. It’s one of our favorite invitations to create because it’s simple to set up, relatively mess-free, and kids love it!

They draw with pastels and then use a bit of baby oil to blend the colors together, creating a cool painted effect. Kids can try blending colors together, making patterns, or even drawing pictures and turning them into ‘paintings.’

Here’s a video of this art technique in action:

And here are the step-by-step instructions, plus a few fun variations!

Oil Pastel Painting with Kids

MATERIALS

• Sturdy paper
• Oil pastels (we also love the neon version)
• Vegetable oil or baby oil
• Q-tips / cotton swabs

That’s all there is to it! So simple and yet so fun. And if you’d like to take things a step further, try these fun variations.

Oil Pastel Painting Variations

• Try some watercolor resist by painting with watercolors over your finished oil pastel painting.
• Draw with oil pastels, paint with watercolors, let dry, then do the oil rubbing step.
• Draw a picture with Sharpie permanent markers first, then add oil pastels to color in some areas, then do the oil rubbing step.

If you have oil pastels in the house, we highly recommend giving this fun technique a try with your kids! (And joining in yourself, of course.)

More Painting Ideas for Kids

• 7 Fun Painting Ideas for Kids to Try
• How to Make Raised Salt Paintings
• How to Do Pointillism Painting with Cotton Swabs
• How to Do Scrape Painting
• 5 Easy After School Art Invitations for Kids
• 10 Invitations to Create for Kids

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Updated April 2024

We love making leaf prints, whether on fabric, paper, clay, or even plaster of paris. The process is so satisfying, and the results capture the natural beauty of leaves.

One of the easiest and most lovely ways to make leaf prints is with air dry clay. You can use these clay leaf prints for ornaments, pendants, or as gifts.

Here’s how we made these beautiful prints.

First, here’s a video tutorial, then we’ll give you the step-by-step instructions.

Clay Leaf Prints

MATERIALS

• Small leaves, ferns and flowers
• Air dry clay
• Wax paper, parchment paper, or a plastic placemat/tray
• Drinking straws
• String or elastic thread
• Watercolor paint (optional)
• Beads (optional)

A great way to use these clay leaf prints is to make an ornament or pendant. To do so, thread string through the hole and tie to form a loop for ornaments or a pendant. Add beads if desired. You can also string several clay disks together into a garland.

More Clay Projects for Kids

• 15 Amazing Clay Projects for Kids
• How to Make a Coral Reef with Clay
• How to Make Clay Coil Pots
• How to Make Mosaic Art for Kids with Air Dry Clay
• Create Colorful Clay Relief Tiles for Kids
• Why We Love this Kids Pottery Wheel

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Updated April 2024

Invitations to create are great for all kinds of kids, both those who are constantly making and creating and those who are less likely to make art unprompted.

An invitation to create is both an opportunity to entice a child to make art, but also an opportunity to introduce a new material, technique, or activity.

Art invitations are obvious and clearly defined, unlike strewing, which is a more ambiguous and subtle way of encouraging learning and creativity. We encourage you to experiment with both.

How to Set up an Invitation to Create Art

Here are a few things to keep in mind when setting up kids art invitations.

• Use a clean table or otherwise clear space.
• Have the art invitation set up ahead of time. You can set it up the night before, during nap time, or while the kids are at school. Either set it up directly on the table, or set it up on a tray that you can keep out of the way until you’re ready to offer the art invitation.
• Keep the materials and set up simple and attractive. A single piece of paper with 1-3 different art materials, colors, etc., in small dishes, for example.
• Allow the child to explore the art invitation in their own way. You can provide some guidance at the very beginning if it seems warranted (for example, “what do you think would happen if you sprinkled some of this salt over the wet watercolors?”) but for the most part let them “own” the invitation.

Here are some of our favorite ideas for art invitations.

10 Ideas for Invitations to Create

1. Oil Pastel Painting

Set out oil pastels, cotton swabs, and a small dish of vegetable oil with a piece of sturdy paper. The oil works with the pastels to create a painted effect.

2. Playdough

Set out some playdough (homemade or store bought!) with a few small toys and let your kids create and play.

3. Sticker Mandalas

Give children some round pieces of paper and sheets of stickers and let them create concentric circles or radiating designs. 

4. Printable Drawing Prompts

Print out one of these creativity-inspiring sheets and set out with some markers or whatever is appropriate for the printable in question.

5. DIY Art Activity Pages

Or if you’d like, make one of these simple DIY art prompts.

6. Q-Tip Pointillism

A few shallow dishes of liquid watercolors, some cotton swabs, and paper are all you need for this art activity!

7. Pasta Collages

A sturdy paper plate, pasta (colored pasta is extra fun!) and some glue allow kids to create collages in any design or image they like, including mandalas.

8. Hole Art

Set out a piece of paper with a hole cut out of it along with a drawing tool, stickers, or some paints.

9. Watercolors + Salt

Sprinkling salt over wet watercolors creates magic! All you need are watercolors, a small dish of salt, and watercolor paper. Add in some foil stars or other stickers for a fun sticker resist effect.

10. Tape Art

Tape of all kinds is fun to experiment with. Add scissors and paper to a set-up with any kind of tape, but especially try washi tape or colored masking tape.

Which invitations to create will you try at home this week?

More Art Invitations for Kids

• 5 After School Art Invitations for Kids
• 13 Simple Art Activities for Kids During Transitions
• How to Set Up Creative Invitations for Kids
• Why I Like Morning Invitations with My Kids
• The Benefits of Art for Kids
• 12 Kids’ Drawing Games for Creative Fun

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