Fun with Paint

Hand and foot painting:

1. Cover a large area of the floor with newspaper.
2. Use masking tape to attach plain paper to the newspaper.
3. Mix some paint in a container and let your child paint his/her hand with the paintbrush.
4. Let your child press his/her hand to the paper.
5. Continue this process until you have a series of handprints on the paper.
6. When finished, let your child washes his/hands in a bowl of water and dries thoroughly.
7. Repeat the process using different colour paint.
8. You can use the same technique to make prints with your feet.

Leaf printing:

1. Collect some leaves from the garden.
2. Cover your work surface with newspaper and place a pain paper on top.
3. Pour some paint in a container.
4. Let your child select a leave and paint one side.
5. Let your child carefully place the painted side of the leave onto the paper and press down firmly ensuring pressure is applied to the whole surface.
6. Remove the leave and repeat the process until the desired pattern has been achieved.

Simple stencilling using doilies:

1. Cover the work surface with newspaper.
2. Place a paper doily over the plain paper and tape it down with masking tape.
3. Let your child hold the paintbrush vertically and stamp the paint onto the paper with an up and down movement.
4. Remove the doily, taking care not to smudge the paint.
5. Allow to dry.

Ripped newspaper stencil:

1. Cover the work surface with newspaper.
2. Let your child tear a newspaper into lengthwise strips. Ensure the edges are not too straight by letting your child wiggle as s/he rips the paper.
3. Let your child place the newspaper pieces across the printing paper, leaving gaps between the pieces.
4. Hold the pieces in place by taping the ends to the newspaper surround.
5. Pour some paint into a saucer.
6. Let your child dip the brush into the paint, removing any excess on some of the newspaper.
7. Let your child dab colour onto the paper between the rows of torn newspaper ensuring all the paper is covered.
8. Remove the newspaper strips to reveal the pattern.

Potato printing:

1. Wash a potato and cut in half.
2. Draw a simple shape on the flat half of the potato with a felt pen.
3. Using a craft or sharp kitchen knife, cut away the potato surrounding the shape.
4. Pour some paint into a saucer.
5. Let your child coat the shape with paint using a brush.
6. Show your child how to press down onto the paper with the potato.

Wax resist painting:

1. Cover your work surface with newspaper.
2. Place plain paper on the newspaper and have your child draw a pattern/scribble/picture on it with white wax crayons or a white wax candle.
3. Mix some paint and have your child cover the whole paper with the paint.
4. Allow to dry.

String and fibre painting:

1. Cover your work surface with newspaper.
2. Mix different coloured paint and pour it into shallow containers.
3. Tie a piece of string to a clothes peg (one for each colour paint).
4. Show your child how to dip the string into the paint.
5. Different effects are achieved by dragging, flicking and pulling it across the paper.

Sponge painting:

1. Cover your work surface with newspaper.
2. Mix different coloured paint and pour it into containers.
3. Let your child dip a sponge into the paint and use it to dab or brush, making pictures and patterns.

Colourful blob paintings:

1. Help your child fold his/her paper in two.
2. Show them how to put blobs of paint on one side of the paper.
3. Fold the paper over and press down hard.
4. Open it up and let it dry.​

Colour mixing:

1. Help your child fill clear glass/plastic containers half full of water.
2. Help your child to add red, yellow and blue paint to three of the containers.
3. Let him/her use plastic eye droppers to add drops of colour to the jars with plain water to make lots of new colours.
4. S/he can also drop drops of paint on a piece of paper, letting the drops mix to make secondary colours.

Bubble pictures:

1. Fill a plastic container with water, adding some powder paint and a little detergent.
2. Place a drinking straw into the container and let your child blow into the straw until the container is almost overflowing with bubbles.
3. Show your child how to press the paper on top of the container.
4. When you take it off there will be beautiful bubble prints on it.

​Blow paintings:

1. Cover your work surface with newspaper.
2. Mix some paint and place it into a container.
3. Show your child how to trap some paint in a straw by putting it in the mixture, placing a finger over the top of the straw and then moving the straw to the paper.
4. Let your child blow gently on the straw. The paint will spread over the paper in spider-like formations.
5. As they use different colours, new colours will form.

Sand paintings:

1. Put some fine sand into containers and add some paint to make different coloured sand.
2. Let your child use a glue stick to “draw” a picture on paper.
3. Let your child sprinkle the sand over his/her glue picture.

Splatter paintings:

1. Spread out the paper on the grass outside.
2. Show your child how to dip his/her brush in the paint and flick the brush with his/her fingers so that the paint flies onto the paper.

Spray paintings:

1. Mix powder paint with water in spray bottles.
2. Peg up some unprinted newspaper outside.
3. Show your child how to spray the paint with short, fine bursts and encourage him/her to use lots of different colours to see how the paint mix and new colours are made.

Fingerprint critters:

1. Show your child how to make fingerprints by pressing his/her index finger into the paint and then carefully placing it on the paper.
2. Let your child add detail to his/her fingerprints, e.g. birds, flowers, people, bugs, monsters or anything else s/he can think of.

Body cut-outs:

1. Let your child lie on a large sheet of paper to have his/her body drawn by you.
2. Let your child cut out the outline of his/her body.
3. Let your child paint his/her body.