FUN PAINTING FOR KIDS: 5 IDEAS

This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small profit if you buy through my link. I would never recommend something I didn’t believe in or wouldn’t buy myself, thank you for your support.

In this post I will give you our top five, fun painting ideas to get your children inspired. I can almost hear parents groaning everywhere, however let’s be honest the idea of the mess from paint is always way worse than it actually is!

We use a tray for the paint and water. You could even use a second tray if you wanted to contain the mess even more while they’re painting. I don’t mind having to wipe the table down after though so we just have the tray and put splodges of paint, a brush and small glass of water.

Painting is such fun for little ones and the simpler activities can even be done by toddlers. In the summer time it’s perfect to take outside too.

Encouraging children to paint is an amazing way of improving their motor skills. It helps them with their problem solving abilities, it can provide an outlet for their emotions and feelings. It also helps them use their imaginations in being creative.

If you would prefer activities which encourage more natural materials and a monthly science and art subscription box: check out this Green Kid Craft (affiliate link). You can choose from different themed projects and different ages, which is awesome.

In this article:

• Fingerprints:
• Fruit and Vegetable stamps
• Marble art
• Shaving Foam art
• Bubble art

Fingerprints

This fun painting activity is very easy, even for toddlers as you can technically just use their fingers to print the page.

You will need:

• Piece of paper
• Paint

You can use certain colours if it’s a particular season or event and then adults just have to cut the shapes out that you want to stick on a personalised card or calendar – whatever you’re making.

At Christmas we made Christmas cards for my son’s class so he used red and green to leave his fingerprints all of the page. I then afterwards cut them into bauble shapes and added them to 30+ cards with some string. I know, what was I thinking!

The gesture was appreciated though and it’s a great way of making a decent looking card that your child did participate in making.

Older children might prefer something more specific like a tree or fingerprint animals.

Fruit and Vegetable Stamps

This is great to do if you some fruit and vegetables that are going to be wasted anyway. I personally don’t like to waste food so if we do it with an apple for example like with the ladybirds. I just washed the apple and sliced the end off that we’d used. The apple can then be eaten as well so minimal waste.

You will need:

• Fruit or veg of your choice
• Piece of paper
• Paint

I think citrus fruits like oranges and lemons do look much better for this activity. However peppers, potatoes, cucumber, end of a bunch of celery and even a carrot works really well if you are stuck for what to use.

They all create such unique patterns and such a fun painting activity.

Marble Art

This one is so much fun for the children just a bit more of a challenging cleanup for adults. Saying that it is in a tray so it’s very much contained. You’ll just need to clean the marbles and take the paper out to dry somewhere so it doesn’t stick to the tray. You could use a cardboard box if you don’t have a tray also.

You will need:

• Tray or box
• Piece of paper
• Small amount of paint
• A few marbles

To be honest my son doesn’t enjoy this activity as much as the others. He says that he finds it frustrating that you have to fill the whole page by moving the whole tray. This could be because he’s nearly 6 so much prefers the concept of actually painting a picture now.

I think this one is ideal for 3-4 year old children who understand but perhaps don’t like to get their hands dirty with paint etc.

Shaving Foam Art

I thought this was really such a fun painting activity to do with children of school age 4+. We had some cheap shaving foam in because of making *slime so we tried it out.

You will need:

• Tray
• Shaving foam
• Paint
• Piece of paper or card
• Small piece of cardboard

So the idea is first of you need to find a tray or tub, basically something big enough to fit your size of paper with plenty of room around the edge so you can lift the paper out easily.

You then fill the tray with shaving foam so it fills it all up.

Then decide with your child what you want to create. A rainbow was really fun but I do feel wiping the shaving foam away at the end ruined ours a bit.

Get your ready mixed paint, either squirt it in randomly to create your pattern or do the different colours to create a rainbow on top of the shaving foam.

Now carefully press the piece of paper right into the middle of the tray and remove to reveal the picture.

Finally wipe the shaving foam away with the piece of cardboard and leave to try. This was the bit I struggled with as the colours got very muddy when I did this so perhaps I should have let it dry a little first.

Bubble art

This is such a cool activity to do with children. One of my favourites because I love bubbles and I remember doing this myself as a child.

You will need:

• A small bowl
• Bubble mixture or washing up liquid
• A straw
• Water based paint/food colouring
• A piece of paper

Very easy too so as long as the child knows that they must not suck they must only blow, then it’s fine to do ? (as a guideline 3+ as my son did this one at his nursery).

Mix the bubble mixture with paint/food colouring.

Get the tiny person to blow some bubbles into the bowl first of all.

Then either scoop the bubbles onto the page or using a bubble wand the child can blow through the wand to pop a bubble against the sheet of paper.

This is my favourite kind of children’s art as I prefer the pastel effect that it gives.

Check out our easy Christmas decorations post for some Christmas tree decorations made with things you have at home such as lolly sticks and toilet rolls.

I hope you find some useful ideas from my post. Let me know in the comments if you try any of them out. You can also tag us on Instagram @rainbowfamilycraft with #rainbowfamilycraft and follow us on Pinterest for more fun craft ideas.