The mess. The mud colors. The 27 seconds my kids would actually paint for.
Tips for Painting with Kids
Painting with kids can be messy! I get it. Sometimes the thought of pulling out all the supplies and letting the kids have paint just doesn’t sound the most appealing. But, with summer here, we all need a few good ideas to keep everyone happy and occupied.
I am going to share my tips for painting with kids so you can get started, stress-free, and enjoy being creative together.
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I have said it before, and I will say again, giving children the opportunity to be creative is one of the most important things we can offer. If you want to learn more about my thoughts on that topic you can read my blog HERE. There are many ways a child can express their creativity but today we are painting!
In the Tropical Sunset painting tutorial for kids below, we focus on blending. They will learn how to smoothly blend all these pretty colors down to the ocean. There are a few extra art lessons the kids will learn along the way and not even know it!
Tips to remember when painting with kids
- Don’t worry if you make a mistake! With acrylic paints, you just let the paint dry and paint right over the top! Try to resist attempting to make a fix while the paint is still wet. It can often make the mess worse.
- Rinse the brush well before swapping from cool to warm colors. Purple and blue mixed with yellow or orange make an unappealing brown.
- The most important thing to remember when painting is to have the proper amount of paint on the brush, and it’s often more than you think. You want enough that you can spread your paint easily without having to fight it on dry patches.
- When blending a background, make sure to have your child pull the long strokes all the way off the edge of the page or canvas. If you stop in the middle, you will see a mark.
- If you are trying something more technical, practice together first on a scrap piece of paper. This will help them to get closer to achieving the look they want and feel more confident. The key to the finer details is to apply the right amount of pressure. I tell ALL my students to just mess around and practice practice practice!
- Teach a few new vocabulary words along the way! HORIZON: The horizon line in art theory is a horizontal line that runs across the paper or canvas to represent the viewer’s eye level. This is where the sky meets the ground or ocean!
- Go with the flow! How many times have we seen the quote by Bob Ross “Happy little accidents”? Mistakes make each painting unique.
Painting Supplies
You do not need to get all the fancy painting supplies to have a fun afternoon with the kids! With any acrylic craft paint, an inexpensive set of brushes, a mixed media pad, and an old shirt of mom or dads, you are set to paint for days!
To help with the mess, I like to tape down a paper bag. If that isn’t enough coverage, tape down a plastic table cloth and save it for multiple uses!
Tips for Stress Free Painting with Kids
We’ve all been there. The kids are out of school, it’s snowing outside and they are going stir crazy. They want something to do and you don’t want them watching another episode of Spongebob or gluing their face to the IPad.
They need something productive and creative to do, but that involves a mess and you’re already stressed just thinking about it. Mixing paint and children can have a mother spiraling into a full blown anxiety attack. Painting can be messy, but there are easy tips and steps to follow to make a painting activity easier to manage and stress free.
Try out these tips for stress free painting with kids:
Protect Your Work Area
Ensure that all the things you don’t want covered in paint are moved from the work space. Using a cheap, plastic or paper table cloth can be a useful resource to cover any table or desk to protect the surface. Newspapers are another go to, but can be messy, easily moved and transfer ink and color onto the kids and the projects. The nice thing about using a plastic tablecloth is that it can be wiped down, disinfected and reused at a later time making it environmentally friendly!
Get Ready for Clean Up
One of the most crucial tips to follow is making sure you are prepared for whatever mess comes from the painting activity. Equip your work space with lots of wipes and paper towels on hand because you are almost guaranteed to have a mess or spill when kids and paint are involved. It’s also smart to dress your kids in clothes that won’t matter if they are able to rewear if they spill paint on their clothes.
Assemble the Supplies
You can make your life a little easier by preparing ahead of time. Create a spot in your home where you can store crafts and other art supplies. You can also dedicate a box to just painting supplies. Stock it with cheap acrylic paint or paint that’s easy to remove from clothing and children, paintbrushes, paper plates and your plastic tablecloth we talked about. Having supplies prepared can make the task just that much easier and you will be ready to paint within minutes. This can also encourage your kids to keep their supplies organized so they can paint whenever they want.
Get the Kids Ready
This can be the hardest part. Like previously mentioned, dress your kiddos in something that won’t be detrimental if they end up covered in paint. Having aprons for everyone can also eliminate the chance of staining any clothes. Messes when it comes to kids and paint are a given, but covering all your bases can eliminate complete disasters.
Create, Create, Create
Now for the best part, the masterpieces. The possibilities are endless to what your child can create with paint and other art supplies. Pinterest is a great resource to help find directions and activities for your children who need a little inspiration.
I figured out how to make painting with kids a fun experience for all of us…
And get an entire “hot coffee” length of play time from my kids (if you’re a parent or caregiver, I know you understand measuring time in cups of coffee).
Here’s hoping these 5 simple tips will help you have a more successfully go when you paint with kids – the way that I’ve learned to do (learn from me! I speak from experience!).
What are the best supplies for painting with kids?
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- Washable tempera paint
- Good BIG brushes
- Nice smaller brushes
- White butcher paper
TIP 1: BE YOUR OWN FLIGHT ATTENDANT
Friends, you need to know and have located your exits BEFORE painting ever begins.
How will you clean up? How will you clean the kids up? How will you keep your white couch safe (that may be a tad specific to my life, but go with me here)?
I always recommend painting near a water source.
And I double recommend that painting activities end with time for a bath because that’s 10x easier than wiping kids down.
When we paint outside, we paint near the hose.
When we paint inside, we paint on the hard floor but I have an escape plan set up to get everyone (and everything) up to the bath or shower.
TIP 2: ALWAYS HAVE A WET WASH CLOTH PER KID
One of the best lessons I learned with my kids for mitigating the mess is having a wash cloth at their side.
When they have a drip – they can wipe it up instead of stepping in it or dragging their sleeve in it.
When they get their hands covered – they can choose to clean up quick so they don’t smudge the paint all over.
By giving my kids the wet wash cloths, I accomplished two things: I had a fast way to help them clean as they painted and they had a way to be independent while painting to keep their body clean.
TIP 3: USE A MUFFIN TIN OR ICE CUBE TRAY
It may seem a bit odd, but muffin tins (or ice cube trays) are my favorite way to hold kid paint.
It’s a great, easy divided space that helps support keeping the colors organized (wink). Ice cube trays work the same way, just on a smaller scale (since the spaces are smaller to work with).
Next time you get ready to paint: grab your muffin tin NOT a plate.
TIP 4: USE COLORS THAT COMPLIMENT
I learned this trick from Art Bar and it has been LIFE CHANGING.
Unless you truly need to for maximum creativity, consider giving your child only colors that “go together,” like red + orange + yellow or blue + purple + pink. These colors don’t all “mud” to form.
Want some more variety? Add white paint to the mix and alter the hue. I do this part with my kids and also add some white into the muffin tin. It makes for a GREAT conversation.
TIP 5: GIVE A PURPOSE TO PAINTING
I love process art for kids BUT at this early age, a blank white canvas can be daunting.
With my oldest, it was too much and it caused him to HATE painting. The pressure was too high.
Instead, I started having him paint “things:”
And he FINALLY saw the value and fun of painting. He’s now my most art-centered kid and I know it’s from providing him variety as a toddler and not relying on the blank paper to lead the way.
Painting with kids IS DOABLE.
It doesn’t have to mean messy. It doesn’t have to mean mud. It’s doesn’t have to be panic inducing.
Plan ahead, think it through, and set your children (and you!) up for painting success.
