Have you ever done splat painting as a child? I am Aysh from WordsnNeedles and I am here at In The Playroom today to show you a fun art activity that you can try with you children. We call it Splat Painting Creatures and it involves making paint splats on paper. You can then doodle or decorate them into fun little creatures.
This activity is a wonderful way for children to learn about colour mixing and texture. It builds your child’s creativity, imagination, story telling skills as well as help with releasing stress. While your child is painting and talking about these creatures, it can build their vocabulary too and toddlers just love the messiness of it all!
We are always looking for activities that different aged children can do together. This is an activity that is perfect for toddlers, pre-schoolers as well as older kids. Here is how to play.
What you need:
- Poster paints
- Squeeze bottles, brushes or droppers to drop the paint. You can use your fingers too!
- Coloured paper or a sketch book
- Pencils
- Assortment of googly eyes, yarn, sequins, scrap cloth or pages from an old magazine.
Splat Painting Activity:
- Place the paper or sketch book on a flat surface. My toddler used her sketch book but you can use individual sheets of paper too. If you would like to hang this painting up later, you can use a canvas.
- Drop or squeeze different colours on the paper. Toddlers may want to use brushes or you can let them use just their fingers. You don’t need to spread the paint… just let it sit in blobs.
- Place another piece of paper on the paint and gently rub the top. If you are using a sketchbook, you will need to just turn a page over the paint.
- Lift the paper. You will see a splat painted on both the papers. Let it dry while you make more paintings. You can point out how the colours have mixed and spread.
- Once the paint has dried, ask the child what it looks like. Or ask them what they would like to make with it. Very young children may need help with the drawing but older children can work independently. Add googly eyes, yarn and pieces of scrap cloth for dressing them. You can use old magazines too. My daughter wasn’t interested in the cloth and yarn that day. She thought the colours would spoil if she added anything more. Her wish!
- Name your creatures. This is the really fun part! Ask your child if they’d like to tell a story about it. We made a wonder fish, a butterfly, a Woowomp (??!), a turkey and a Little Miss!
Will you be painting splat creatures with your children? Join us on our Facebook page and share your creatures. We would love to hear from you.
Like this post? Check out more fun activities from us:
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
1 thought on “Splat Painting Creatures”