Acrylic Paints – I used a non-toxic, Craft Smart brand in larger sizes (8 oz).

We painted 4 canvases (2 for grandmas, 1 for aunt, 1 for mom). You can use smaller or larger canvases, but I find this size is perfect for little hands and a nice size for a gift (or whatever is on sale at your local arts and crafts store). After this painting project, we’ll have canvases to give as gifts for both grandmas, aunt, and mom (me)!īonus: the hand painting for kids on canvas also makes a great father’s day gift, too! Also, check out my coffee filter flower color mixing craft for another mother’s day gift idea.įirst layer of acrylic paint on canvas: blue and yellow make green She loves water, painting, kinetic sand, sensory bins, and play dough. She is two years and 8 months old and she loves to get her hands into things. I thought it would be fun to do this painting activity with my older toddler (almost preschooler). My experience with hand painting for kids on canvas at home with my older toddler After it dries, you could always just start over and add another layer of paint! Or, you could have the kids completely choose whatever colors they want and have them explore with color, even if the painting gets all muddy brown at the end. Then let the colors dry and for the next painting session, choose red and blue to make purple, and so on. For example, for each painting session, you could choose two primary colors that mix to make a secondary color blue and yellow make green for the first session. You could incorporate a color mixing lesson while painting, which could be an extension of a Sensorial color lesson. There are different directions you could go with this.

Hand painting art canvases in my Montessori 3-6 classroom The teacher just drips the paints on the canvas and the kids use their hands and tap to create their abstract painting.Įach week (or day) is a new set of colors, so the kids are adding a new layer of color, adding to the depth and richness of the art piece. What’s really great about this art activity is that the kids completely create their art pieces by themselves. It really is amazing how they all turn out unique. I thought it would be a fun idea for the kids to have their own canvas to work on for several days (or weeks) and bring it home as a gift for Mother’s Day.īelow is a picture of all the kids’ canvases from my classroom. When I was a Montessori teacher in another school after we moved, I took this idea, hand painting for kids, as a project in the classroom. My experience with hand painting for kids on canvas The class was an eight-week session, so by the eighth week, the kids each had a really cool unique abstract art piece they could take home! The teacher also dripped small collage items (such as tissue paper and pencil shavings) to the canvases to add texture, while the kids were tapping the paint on the canvas. The teacher dripped acrylic paint on the canvases and the kids used only their hands to tap the paint on the canvas each week. She provided the kids with their own oversized canvas. She created an after-school art class for preschoolers called “The Little Artist” where the kids created abstract art with paint on canvas. This painting on canvas makes a great gift for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day! I originally got this idea from another Montessori teacher and dear friend of mine at a school I worked at in Manhattan.

Mother’s Day is coming up so I thought of this hand painting for kids activity we used to do in the Montessori classroom. Hand painting for kids on canvas: how I got the idea

Mini canvas painting ideas