10 Quirky Painting Techniques Your Kids Will Enjoy

Painting is one of the many wonderful experience kids must indulge in.

Not only does it teach them to express themselves, painting also helps your kid develop mentally and emotionally. The activity itself allows them to discover lots of things while they create and learn.

Over the years, the basic brush and colour way of painting has evolved and we are introduced to a myriad of painting techniques, each one different from the other. It definitely has made art more exciting!

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The relevance of discovering these new and quirky painting techniques is to encourage kids to focus more on the process, rather than the outcome. We’ve rounded up ten of them..

The easiest, most fun and incredibly messy painting styles your kids will enjoy!

1. Squish Painting Techniques

Kids love to squish things, now why not let them do it? These types of painting techniques teach kids about symmetry and colour. While you’re at it, explain to them the colours and anything that comes up during the painting. This is recommended for kids aged 2 – 4 years old.

Here’s a helpful guide by Laughing Kids Learn.

2. Fork Painting

This one is my personal favourite and perhaps the most quirky painting techniques. I look at a fork and my initial reactions is to use it to eat. Who knew you can use it for art? I’ve seen lots of the done work online. You can make dandelions, fireworks, a bear and lots more.. using a fork!

Here’s a helpful guide by Crafty Morning.

3. Paintsicles

Now this one I think is the coolest! See what I did there? Well, with the hot weather lately, ice has been a must in the freezer. I stumbled upon these painting techniques and let my kids give them a try. It was a whole new painting experience!

Here’s a helpful guide by Learn With Play At Home.

4. Q Tip Painting

Q-Tip Painting is one of the great painting techniques to work on that pencil grip. It is easy to find and present in every household. There are a lot of printables available online, too!

Here’s a helpful guide by Hands On As We Grow.

5. Straw Blow Painting

Another fun one is to make art while blowing the paint using a straw! The finished product is a beautiful, vibrant and gorgeous abstract painting. The kids can use the straw to blow, drag and make several lines. This activity needs adult supervision because the kids might suck up instead of blow the painting. Also, this tends to get really really messy.

Here’s a helpful guide by The Imagination Tree.

6. Cotton Ball Painting Techniques

For this one, you need some paper, paint and cotton balls! All they have to do is to dip the cotton ball in paint and start pushing, squishing and smashing the cotton balls to the paper. The paint tends to go all over the place for this one so make sure they wear an old shirt.

Here’s a helpful guide by Where Imagination Grows.

7. Bubble Wrap Painting

Bubble wrap painting techniques are great for exploring shapes, colours and texture! Before starting, cut the bubble wraps into shapes. The kids will pick one shape, dip it into the paint and push it into the paper. The results are fabulous works of art!

Here’s a helpful guide by Learning4Kids.

8. Tape Resist Art

Looking for a DIY gift that the kids can do? They’ll have fun doing this Tape Resist Art! Toddlers will need help in cutting the tape for this one, so make sure they have adult supervision. It makes a great gift on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays, an activity for a children’s party or just whenever!

Here’s a helpful guide by Artful Parent.

9. Painting with Toy Cars

If the kids have old toy cars that they won’t mind getting dirty, use those for this type of art work. It’s a fun art process with the kids just dragging the cars around while creating the painting. Car tyres have interesting patterns so make sure you use a variety. Construction trucks, racing cars, etc.

Here’s a helpful guide by Messy Little Monster.

10. Celery Stamp Art

Make things interesting by using celery as art stamps! Celery looks like flower patterns so the kids can create a painting of a garden, or a card for mum’s birthday. If you want to make it more fun, add in more vegetables and fruits! Lemon slices make great bike wheel patterns. Apples, bell peppers and lettuce create amazing patterns, too!

Here’s a helpful guide by Crafts By Courtney.

There you go, 10 unique painting styles that YOU DEFINITELY NEED TO TRY with the kids. Doing these kinds of activities with your kids helps you bond with them more. Have fun while teaching them basic shapes, colours and patterns.

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They grow up so fast so while they’re young encourage as many sensory play moments as possible where they are free to be captivated by imagination, experiment and create!