Painting for Kids

These Painting for Kids ideas are a wonderful way to inspire creativity and encourage fine motor skills! Your kids will love exploring lots of different materials and mediums while practicing creative thinking, problem-solving, and even fine motor skills!

Kids of all ages love to paint! There are lots of different materials and mediums to explore while painting with kids. I’ve put together a list of different process art projects you can use at home or in the classroom to explore painting techniques with your little learners.

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Process art projects are a fantastic method for exploring paint because it’s all about the creative process, not the finished product.

That means kids are free to get creative without needing to produce a certain end result. Ready to explore painting for kids with your little learners?

Keep reading to discover how you can use paint in your classroom to encourage creativity, curiosity, and learning.

If you’re looking for even more process art activities to do with your kids, then check out this page with 50+ Process Art Activities for Little Kids!

Easy Dot Painting for Kids

Little kids love creative painting techniques, which makes this easy dot painting activity perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners. Even better, this is a great way to build fine motor skills.

Using anything from cotton swabs to pompoms, early learners can explore creating pictures from dots.

Dot Painting for Kids

Comb Painting for Kids

The comb painting technique is a fantastic way to explore texture in art with your kids. You can use this method to create some uniquely beautiful patterns and textures on paper in a way that’s easy for kids to recreate.

Comb paintings are perfect for creating animals since their fur is so textured. We used the comb painting technique in our preschool lessons about gorillas. You can explore the project here:

Gorilla Zoo Craft

Resist Painting for Kids

Resist Painting is one of our favorite techniques! It’s quick and easy and of course lots of fun! We’ve done a variety of different resist activities from using tape to make rug designs, creating a cool underwater effect, and even painting a nighttime sky!

Splatter Painting for Kids

This painting technique is so much fun! My kids love splatter painting and it’s not hard to see why. To create a splatter painting, you’ll need to drop a lot of paint.

You can do this by squirting paint onto the paper from above, dropping paint-covered objects, or even throwing paint at the canvas. It’s perfect for science lessons about gravity.

Plus, it makes a really fun introduction to any Jackson Pollock lesson for kids. Check out these cool splatter painting process art projects:

Bubble Painting

Ready for a magical art experience your kids will talk about for days? Bubble painting has got you covered! This cool process art technique will have your kids creating some whimsical and beautiful art while having a whole lot of fun.

Check out my bubble painting projects below and see how we created bubbles to learn about circles in preschool.

Salt Painting for Kids

You can use this painting technique to teach your kids some really cool science along the way. Salt painting is where art and science meet to create a beautiful process art experience with salt.

All you’ll need is salt, glue, and watercolor paints. Plus, you can use salt painting techniques in a wide variety of process art projects for tons of topics. Check out some of our favorites below:

Eyedropper Painting

Liquid watercolors are absolutely stunning and eyedroppers are such a wonderful way to practice important fine motor skills while being creative with your little kids. These eyedropper painting ideas are of course no exception!

Syringe Painting for Kids

Another favorite painting idea is using plastic syringes to squirt paint onto cardstock. This activity would be great to add to your next health and wellness or community helpers theme!

Syringe Squirt Art Community Helpers Craft

Ice Painting

Ice painting is so versatile! Not only is it an awesome sensory experience, but it’s also an engaging and hands-on way to explore states of matter, color mixing, and so much more!

Egg Painting

Egg painting isn’t just for Easter anymore! Check out these quick and easy egg painting process art activities! Learn about birds while creating an egg masterpiece!

Tie-Dye Activities

Tie-Dye is definitely a favorite around here and this Tye-Die STEAM Activity for Kids is no exception! Your little kids will have a blast learning this quick and easy tie-dye painting for kids technique!

Tie-Dye STEAM Activity for Kids

Ball Painting

There are lots of unique ways to paint with balls. We’ve used bouncy balls, pokey balls, and lots more! Check out these fun painting for kids ideas for even more ball painting fun!

Wax Painting for Kids

Wax is a great tool for learning about changing states of matter with kids. As the wax cools, it changes from liquid to solid. Since it happens quickly, it’s a fun way for kids to witness the process that can be done with some really cool process art.

Check out our method for exploring resistance with this wax resist process art project below:

Wax Resist Painting for Kids

Stencil Painting for Kids

Stenciling is a great introductory painting technique that’s perfect for little learners of all ages. Grab some stencils or even cookie cutters and get creative with your preschoolers and kindergartners today!

Stamping Art

There are so many everyday items that we can use to add texture to our art. Explore stamping techniques in lots of fun new ways with the ideas listed below:

Blow Painting

This simple process art technique is another that’s tons of fun for little kids. Using straws to create this whimsical art form is easy, but it’s also quite a creative experience.

Plus, kids can’t always control where the air moves the paint, so it’s a great lesson in being flexible for little learners. You can have fun with blow painting using these cool projects:

Swirl Painting for Kids

We’ve made quite a few paper plate swirl painting projects too! These quick and easy painting for kids activities are perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners!

Preschool Painting Activities

Once you’ve explored a variety of techniques with your kids, you can begin to use those techniques to create less abstract paintings. Let kids use comb painting to make animals, drop painting for flowers, and wax resist art to imagine landscapes. Go wild!

Here are a few process art projects we like to get you started:

Check out these other awesome ideas for little kids!

Check out these fun and engaging no-prep printable Preschool Worksheets.
Find lots of quick and easy no-prep printable Kindergarten Worksheets!
This list is full of Free Coloring Pages to practice fine motor skills with your preschool learners.

Don’t forget to leave a comment and share what types of painting for kids activities you’d like to see!