Painting has been my daughter’s favorite at-home activity since she was 18 months-old. She used to drag our little paint basket over to me, which meant she was ready to get her hands, face, and whatever clothing she was wearing at the time, messy. Now at 5.5, painting is still fun, but exploring different techniques is “the funnest”. =) See our painting section here.
A few days ago, we explored “spray painting” watercolors. This was inspired by the zillions of “rain painting” posts I’ve seen around the web. We actually tried to do this by putting it in the shower first – that didn’t work so well. We ended up just using a spray bottle to squirt the water colors.
This painting activity was actually really neat! We discovered that the paints that we had just put down on paper spread a lot better – so be sure to only add the watercolors right before you’re ready to squirt. If they start to dry, the water won’t make them spread as well.
We used an old rusty & seasoned cookie sheet that I saved for crafts to catch the water. It worked really well! You could do this outside on the grass or even in the bathtub if you’re worried about the mess. We sat at the kitchen table and the mess was minimal with the cookie sheet.
Materials Needed:
Watercolor Paper or Cardstock (we used Cardstock)
Liquid watercolor paints
Tray/cookie sheet/etc
Squirt Bottle
What to Do:
On your sheet of cardstock, dab the liquid watercolors around the paper. Immediately take your squirt bottle and squirt the dots of paint. Lift the tray and tip it from side to side to make cool paint designs!
See? Simple, easy, and fun!
Extra: You could make this into a learning activity by pointing out how different colors mix and make other colors.
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Oh this is a great way to experiment with water on the paint… much more hands on than popping it in the rain!
Your ideas are wonderful. I sometimes am blessed to babysit for my neice and nephew, and am always looking for things to keep their little hands busy. They will LOVE your ideas.
This is great! We don’t have our liquid watercolors or watercolor tubes right now. We will improvise and be using our Acrylics with spray bottles from the recycle! THANK You SOO much! This is one way I have NEVER ‘spray’ painted with the kids 😀 much appreciated inspiration!