Painting Activity for Preschoolers
The words all teachers and parents are afraid of is, painting activity for preschoolers. I will be the first to admit, painting with a preschooler can be a huge mess and become very time consuming. The paint can get all over them, all over their clothes and all over whatever surface they paint on. Preschoolers tend to load their paint brushes and also have a tendency to slop the paint onto their paper nice and thick. There are a few ways to allow your preschooler to paint. This will limit the mess and therefore the amount of cleaning you will have to do at the end.
My first and favorite type of painting activity for preschoolers at work and at home, is painting with foam daubers. You can order a pack of 10 foam daubers of various sizes at Amazon. Once you have your foam daubers you will need a paper plate and 3 or 4 paint colors. This allows your child choice while limiting the amount of paint mess they can create. I personally like to use acrylic paint because I think it looks more vibrant. To purchase a set of 12 non toxic acrylic paints that are suitable for children see Amazon.
If you would prefer to use a paint that is directed at being more washable you can get a set of 10 various paint colors also on Amazon.
Now that you have your paints, a paper plate and your foam daubers you just need to find a surface that your child can do their magic on. I suggest a table covered with a towel or newspaper. Give your child a plain piece of paper or a picture out of a coloring book to paint. You can now squirt a little bit of each paint on the paper plate. Give your child the dauber and allow them to paint away. With the daubers it helps if they dip it in the paint and then dab the plate first before putting it on the paper. This method helps to limit slopping a large amount of paint down at once and also keeps it from dripping on them. The daubers help to contain the mess to the small circles they make and the Kids love it!
Another good way of a painting activity for preschoolers and to paint with your children and to limit the mess is q-tip painting. Q-tip painting requires the same materials that the dauber painting requires.
You will need your choice of paint; a paper plate and this time just a box of q-tips. You can give your child a piece of paper to create their art on and a handful of q-tips to work with. Make sure that when you give them the q-tip you remind them to only put paint on one end. It can be quite tricky if they dab both ends in paint! Q-tips are small, easy to handle and can be used to create quite of a few designs. Because they are tiny in size and the inability to hold a large amount of paint Q-tips help to make for a semi mess free painting activity.
My last fun idea for a painting activity for preschoolers is with cotton balls. Cotton balls can create the most mess of the three activities on this blog. However, kids love painting with cotton balls. They can make huge pictures, a lot of colors and the mess can be controlled if watched closely.
To paint with cotton balls you simply need a bag of cotton balls, a paper plate, and of course your paint. With cotton ball painting I would suggest having cotton balls off to the side. With cotton ball painting I would suggest having cotton balls off to the side for replacement. Once the cotton balls become saturated use the ones set aside. This can help you to keep the kids from getting paint on their fingers, and it also limits the mess and saturation of their paper. I would suggest 3 to 4 colors and a few cotton balls for each color. Cotton ball painting is more about filling up the paper and making a large amount of colors. The best news about cotton ball painting is the fact that you can throw them away with the paper plates. Quick clean up at the end!
All three of these painting activities are fun to do at home and in the classroom. Parents and teachers love them because the mess can be controlled and you need limited supplies! Pick your paint, pick your location and make art happen!
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