My 6-year-old was home from school this week and I tried to cram in as much fun as we could including a little early St. Patrick’s Day spin art craft. Between a visit from the grandparents, watching The Princess Bride twice, 2 ferry rides, and a trip to the aquarium, we did a ton of activities. This was his favorite. Salad spinner art is a ton of fun and it’s not a bad work out either. You can find a cheap salad spinner like this one at Ikea for under $4!
- Gather your materials. You will need some paper plates or other sturdy paper , paint ( water it down just a little) and a salad spinner.
- Start by drawing your shamrock or rainbow on the plate. Draw them on both sides so you have a good guide for cutting later after it’s dry.
- Cut the extra off the plate . Fitting in cutting curves is something I am trying to do more for my son who is still working hard at that skill.
- Pour! We poured a little too much but if there is too much just scoop some off.
- Spin!
- Next up rainbow colors.
It gets a little messy but all fun things do !
- Next we thought we’d do some color mixing. So we got out our thinner Melissa & Doug Poster Paints and poured them in.
- Carefully watched as it spattered while it spun.
- It turned sorta grey so we added some other green paint and spun it again.
I love this picture because it shows out painting experiment which is what my son was calling it.Seeing him so engaged even though he has done more than his fair share of art projects over the last 5 years was wonderful. I am thankful he is still curious. 
- Let everything dry and cut out your St. Patrick’s Day spin art.
Want more great ideas for preschool activities? Check out our Build Preschool Thematic Curriculum Units!
Julie says
What’s motivating bilateral hand use activity. It looks like it would be very difficult to do it independently without an active hand and a helper/stabilizing hand (although of course we can always make modifications if needed!). Both for the spinning and for the scissor work as well. He looks like he is having so much fun! I may need to pick up an extra “art” salad spinner at the dollar store if I can find one… I guess I need to start coming up with some St. Patrick’s Day activities huh! This one looks so fun!
Julie says
I meant what a motivating…
Eddie - The Usual Mayhem says
I’ve never tried spin art with the kids! Great motor skills practice with it too, I imagine. Thanks for sharing!
Laura says
I guess I will have to wash out my salad spinner very well after this activity! LOL 🙂
Niamh Bevan says
Just a little tip Deborah, please remember that at the end of every rainbow in Ireland there is a Crock of Gold I know this for certain because it used to be in a farm behind our estate of houses! Admittedly this Crock of Gold spun yarn & later disappeared to become another estate of houses, but at the end of every rainbow is a little leprachaun who guards that Crock of Gold & it is real because nobody has ever caught it because Seamus takes such good care of it!!! So never forget to put a Crock of Gold under the Rainbow.
Abby says
Love this! What a great idea to use a salad spinner…looks like I’ll need to add one to my OT toolbox 🙂