Splatter Paintings

Today we did some splatter paintings in our craft time. I saw these in one of the links/blogs that I follow for toddler craft ideas and thought they sounded like fun! The kids like to make noise, a mess and to paint so it seemed to combine all of these into one!

I started off by gathering my materials: 2 large-sized yogurt containers with lids (one for each kid); poster paints (we use the Clementine Art natural paints but something with a little thickness to it would work); broken crayons; paper (cut to fit inside the containers); and tape.  I taped the paper into the containers and set out the rest of the supplies for the kids.

They got to choose the colours of paints they wanted to use (Wee Man chose green, navy blue and orange; Little A chose orange, red and yellow) and they dipped the crayon pieces into the paint and then dropped the crayons into the containers.

Then the fun began - we pumped up the music and got to dancing around while shaking our containers - Wee Man thought that this was just possibly the most fun he's ever had and totally got into it!

When the song was over I popped the lids off of the containers and the kids got to see the works of art they had created. Little A's (left, in the image above) crayons were delicately dipped in the paint and had a little less vigorous shaking done to them - and the result was a gorgeous splatter painting in bright, cheery colours. Wee Man (right, in the image above) chose darker colours and didn't just dip his crayons, but came up with fully painted hands which dripped into the container as he dropped each crayon (ha!) and then he fully enjoyed shaking his container (I seriously was worried the lid might pop off!) so his was a little less 'splattered' and the colours blended together more to create a swampy look. Both were awesome though and the kids were super excited to see what had happened.

I'm definitely going to try this activity again - the kids loved it and the end result was really cool! Highly recommended for anyone who is looking for a little different kind of painting activity. Aside from the dipping of crayons, this is a relatively low-mess activity and takes no time at all if you're looking for something artsy to do to fill a small block of time!


This activity could also be used at the pre-school/elementary level to teach primary and secondary colours. Using 2 primary colours children could explore what happens when the two mix, creating secondary colours (ie: red + yellow = orange). A great way to introduce secondary colours in a fun way and get the kids exploring and talking about colours.

I think I may try this activity again using glitter in the mix as well, how fun would it be to have a glittered splatter painting without the mess that a glitter shaker held over paper results in?! Perhaps for an Easter craft I'll cut the paper into the shape of eggs, put out some bright, Spring-like colours of paint and some glitter and we'll make splatter-painted Easter Eggs!