Are you looking for some fun and easy art activities to do with your children? The four art activities described in this article are perfect for the uncrafty parent.
I loved arts and crafts as a kid. I would spend hours doing little projects that I made up. We lived in Florida, and I loved to make little animals out of shells we collected at the beach. Alas, my crafting skills plateaued during fourth grade. I look at Pinterest and I want to make those beautiful things, but my attempts are embarrassing.
Recently, I tried to make a play car garage out of boxes and paper towel rolls. Online it looked so cool! It looked so easy too, but it was more involved than I thought. The final result looks like the construction workers were drunk and then an earthquake hit it. Thankfully, my children are not too picky and have enjoyed it. Although, I don’t think they ever play with it as a car garage.
I was a preschool teacher for students with special needs for five years. I do not consider myself a crafty person, but I loved doing art projects with my students. My classroom was colorful, cheerful, and full of my student artwork. I kept it simple and fun. Now as a stay at home parent I enjoy doing art projects with my children who are ages three and five. I continue to keep it simple. I got these ideas from the wonderful teachers and parents from preschool my children attend. If you live in the Houston area and are looking for a preschool you should check out this place. I’m an adult and I wish I could go to school there!
If you and your kids are bored with the same old coloring check out these four art activities to liven things up.
Painted Toast
Table of Contents
Make breakfast a fun art project! My three-year-old daughter loves this one.
Materials
Directions
Put milk into the small bowls. Put two to three drops of food coloring in bowls. Mix the milk and food coloring. With a paintbrush and/or spoon paint your canvas, the bread. After you are done painting, put it in the toaster. Then enjoy your art with butter or any other topping of your choice.
Paint with Colored Ice Cubes
This is such a simple idea but so fun! We have done this several times. My kids enjoy painting with the ice cubes in the backyard on an easel. You can do it indoors too, but like with regular paint protect your table and your kids’ clothes.
Materials
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ice cube tray
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Food coloring
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Popsicle sticks
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paper
Directions
Fill the ice cube tray up with water. Put one to three drops of food coloring in each ice cube slot. Put popsicle sticks in each slot slanted diagonally. Put the ice cube tray in the freezer for at least four hours. After the colored water is frozen let the art begin!
Bonus Tip: We have also let the ice cubes melt after we are done painting with them. Then we use the melted colored water to paint again. You can use this as an opportunity to talk to your children about why ice melts. Look at you, super parent, adding some science to art!
Chalk Paint
My daughter especially loves this one. We have done it many times! I also talked about doing chalk paint in another article I wrote. If you are looking for more ideas for activities for kids here it is:
I’ve never bought chalk paint, but looking it up online it is expensive. You can make it very cheaply, quickly, and easily at home.
Materials
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Chalk (those broken little pieces you can’t draw with anymore are best, but you can do it with any size.)
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Hammer
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Water
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Ziplock bag
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Cup
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Paintbrush and/or spray bottle
Directions
Put the chalk in the ziplock bag. With a hammer crush up into fine little pieces inside the bag. Crush it up until it looks like a fine powder. With supervision, I have let my children do this part. It is great for hand-eye coordination, plus they think it’s great fun! Put the crushed chalk powder in a cup and add water. We use paintbrushes to paint our driveway and fence. If you are braver than I am you can also put the chalk paint in a spray bottle. The chalk paint washes off easily with water.
Flour and Salt Playdough
My kids’ preschool is all about the homemade playdough. I’ve always been all about the stuff you can buy in the store. Then I discovered this recipe. It is so easy! And a bonus is after the kids are done playing with it if you store it in an airtight container you can use it again. This is so good for young kids because if they eat it, no problem! It’s just salt, flour, and water. Too bad for my kiddos, who knows how much of that store-bought playdough they ate when they were itty bitty tots.
Materials
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2 cups of flour
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1 cup of salt
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¾ cup of water
Directions
Combine the flour and salt. Then slowly add water. Knead the mixture and then let rest for twenty minutes.
Bonus Tip: This playdough is so fun, but it is messy. I save plastic packaging you get from deliveries. I use it to protect my table when the kids do art, especially playdough. After they are done you can easily wipe off the packaging and use it again. Then you don’t have to wipe playdough goo off your table!
Bonus Tip: You can then bake your creations and then paint them! Just bake at 200 for one and a half hours.
You don’t have to be a Pinterest superstar to do interesting crafts with your kids. I hope these simple ideas will help you and your kids get creative and have fun.