When I talk about “free art” what I mean is giving your child the opportunity to play with colors, make what they want and explore. Now I believe in this but am also aware that novelty is a big deal to small people who very easily declare “I don’t know what to paint” and “I’m bored”. Painting with tools that are unique, unusual, and easy to find around the house can help! Below you will find a long list of fun painting activities that can’t be done wrong, have no long list of materials, and use fun tools to paint – like painting with trains and trucks in the picture above. Click on the title below the pictures to be directed to the original post for more pictures and brief descriptions.
Painting with Tools – Free Art
Sponge Painting ( kitchen sponge)
What unique things have you used when painting with tools? Share your ideas in the comments and let us know how the above projects have worked at your home!
Misty says
great ideas!
mama hall says
love love love it! looking for art projects for my 13mo and some of these are PERFECT. 🙂
Scott Wiley says
I love painting – especially with different (and unusual) objects. One fun thing we do it paint with as many different kinds of brushes as we can find. And each department in Wal-Mart has brushes: pastry brushes, make-up brushes, pet brushes, shoe shine brushes, hairbrushes, shaving brushes, scrub brushes, vegetable brushes, and so forth. Lots of fun!
Mike & Lauren says
Allie, I love your blog. I have done almost all of the alphabet and lots of your other crafts with my daughter and she loves it.
What kind of paint do you recommend? Thanks!
Valerie says
Great ideas. I have an almost 2 1/2 year old who LOVES art! We recently did some "ball" painting and compared the sizes of a tennis ball, golf ball, and some marbles. She had a blast and I have to admit, the paintings were very cool.
Rebecca says
These are all super neat ideas!
tali says
even for adults it is fun to experiment with paint with no big agenda. kind of like action painting. if you use better paint and a large canvas you could probably hang the results in your living room….
thanks for all the ideas.
i think i know what we are doing tomorrow…
tali
http://www.growingUPcreative.com
Allie says
Thanks- these are usually my favorite projects because i can sit back and have fun making them too, I am not prepping the next step or taking picture after picture.
I use crayola kid paint – I should invest in some crayola bulk paint but I need to clean my art closet before I do that and well anyone want to babysit for a day so I can do that?
I use it because honestly ( and no crayola has never given me a free product or money) I trust crayola and their non toxicity. So I stick with them as much as possible.
I should get some artist quality paint and do some, I just need to find the time… hmm I should really look for a trusty babysitter.
Katherine Marie! says
These are all MAGNIFICENT!!!
I'm with you on the crayola paint thing— I've tried many and can't seem to find another that is as washable and durable as crayola. I'd love to hear your thoughts as you experiment with other brands.
whisperingwhispers says
I love free art with Selena. Thank you for sharing your ideas. We had fun Friday doing free art with bubbles. I just took regular bubble solution and Selena picked out the colors of food coloring she desired, I mixed the food coloring into small containers with the bubble solution. Using a straw I blew the bubbles so they were over flowing the container and Selena held a piece of paper over the bubbles, when they popped they colored the paper, too bad she tore her art work before I could get a picture, we will do it again soon, she loved it!
Georgine says
Thanks for the reminders of new things to do with paint. B and I painted with yesterday with feathers, corks and pom poms. She had a good time and the finished products were actually very cool.
Always use Crayola products. They really are washable. I appreciate that more than anything.
Again, thanks for all the work you put in to the blog.
Nadia@FunWithMama says
there are so many items that can be used to paint with! thanks for sharing the ones you've used
ihchicky says
I love all the ideas! Very fun 🙂
Multi-tasking Mommy says
Wow! That's a lot of messy FUN!!!