Tired of doing the same old preschool art activities with your kids and students? Here are 25+ AWESOME art projects for Toddlers and Preschoolers to do at home, daycare or preschool.
It’s no secret that the toddlers and preschoolers in my daycare love creating art! Naturally, they enjoy regular, everyday art like painting, and colouring with markers, crayons and chalk, but we always have the most fun when we’re doing a cool art project, exploring unusual substances and materials like (shaving cream, melted wax, food colouring), and using creative techniques (resist art, print making and, smoosh painting) to make our art.
Thankfully, there are countless materials and tools right in your own home to create really cool art with your children. These unusual materials, tools and techniques will allow your kids to explore, create and learn in ways that they can’t with just a box of crayons or markers. Don’t worry though. They’re all easy!
Today, I’m sharing over 25 of my favourite easy art techniques for kids! I think you and your kids will love them all. My toddlers and preschoolers have really enjoyed each one, but older kids will love the techniques and the projects in this post as well.
Put away those paintbrushes and pallets. These are not your ordinary art projects.
From resist art to sensory art, to dripping and ripping, you’ll find plenty of unusual ways for your kids to create art in ways they’ve never dreamed of.
Each of the activities described here contains a click-able link which will take you to the step-by-step instructions. Just click on the coloured, underlined text.
25 Easy, Awesome Art Projects for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Make a gorgeous “tie-dyed” bookmark with Sharpies and rubbing alcohol! Great fine-motor exercise and a super homemade gift for kids to give a parent, grandparent or teacher!
Toddlers and Preschoolers will love “shaking up” a colourful masterpiece with this fun and energetic golf ball painting process!
Sharpies are the star again in this simple “stained-glass” art project. You’ll never guess what we coloured on to get such glossy, vibrant results.
Take your sidewalk chalk art to a new level with a little dipping pot of water!
The hooligans spent ages exploring water absorption and strengthening their fine-motor skills with this drip-art technique.
Older kids can use the same process to make these City Skyline Silhouettes,
and these Tie-Dyed Heart Sun Catchers.
Here’s a great warm-weather art project! Little ones will love painting with coloured ice outdoors on a sunny summer day.
One of our absolute favourites! To make homemade puffy paint, all you need are 3 kitchen ingredients and a microwave!
Dyeing coffee filters is always popular with the hooligans. See how we used ours to make a pretty paper plate wreath.
Your child can stamp up a one-of-a-kind piece of art for his or her bedroom using a thrift shop canvas and some cardboard rolls. And for Valentines, you can tweak the process a little and stamp a canvas full of hearts.
Scratch Art is one of those classic art projects that every kid loves. Remember doing scratch art when YOU were a kid? Here, we’ve made a family portrait to give to a parent or grandparent.
Spin painting is a very cool process for kids to do at home or in the classroom. All you need is a salad spinner!
Turn your toilet roll tubes into stamps for some print-making. Your child can frame this stamped heart art project or hang it on a bedroom wall.
If you’ve never tried colouring on tin foil with Sharpies before, you must! It’s such a slick feeling, and the iridescent colours that result are beautiful. We the process to decorate personalized name plaques.
Without a doubt, melting crayons to make Van Gogh’s Starry Night art is one of my all-time favourite art processes for kids.
See how we turned an old thrift shop painting into a custom piece of art for our playroom using this mess-free smoosh painting technique!
Make your own gift wrap in a matter of seconds using this awesome hair-dryer painting process!
These cork-stamped flowers were my very favourite spring art project this year. Not only because they’re so pretty, but because they’re so versatile! You can use this technique to make homemade cards and wrapping paper or to embellish a wreath or a tote-bag!
Cotton-pad art teaches kids about water absorption and colour blending, and the process helps develop fine motor skills.
This “big art” post is chock-full of ways for a little one to explore a variety of painting tools on a large art surface on the floor.
Tape resist art is so much fun! It’s simple enough for toddlers to enjoy, and older kids will appreciate the cool results.
Scrape painting is another one of my all-time favourite art techniques for kids. The process is easy yet fascinating, and the results are always just beautiful!
Kids who enjoy messy play will love this sensory art process! It’s fun for one, and also a great group activity for the backyard.
This salt, glue and watercolour process was a really neat (and gorgeous) way to work on letter and name recognition.
Crayon resist art is always a hit with kids of all ages! Even I can’t resist a good resist-art project!
Transform your driveway art with this simple chalk and water technique!
Paint a perfect rainbow every time with this nifty art technique!
And lastly, here are three of my all-time favourite art techniques for kids:
Creating stained glass art with bottle lids and washable paint.
Making marbleized prints with shaving cream and food colouring.
Creating beautiful Monet-like art with markers and paper towels.
Pour painting is a TON of fun. We’ve made Christmas ornaments this way, and most recently, these stunning paper weights for Father’s Day.
Painting with frozen, coloured paint pops is always fun on a summer day too!
Make marbled paper with shaving cream and food colouring! It’s SUCH a cool process!
And if you’re looking for another collection of terrific art projects for kids, check out these 30 Art Techniques from Buggy and Buddy!
More Cool and Creative Activities for Kids:
Easy science Experiments for Toddlers
Homemade Paint Recipes for Kids
Disney’s “Frozen” Crafts, Activities and Recipes
Get the 3-5 Playful Preschool e-Book!
25+preschool activities by 25 bloggers, 10 printables, 50 links to activities not featured in the book all for $8.99!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Cynthia Le Bourlegat
Hi Jackie, I love you blog! I’ll be glad if you wish know my brazilian blog of kids activities and crafts http://www.falamae.com.
Karen
Thank you for putting this all together in one post! Will be passing on to other parents. (Might try some myself!) 🙂
happyhooligans
You’re so welcome, Karen! Thanks for passing it along! Keep your eye on my blog. I plan to do a big round up of actual art projects for preschoolers too. 🙂
preschool projects
Wow what a beautiful collection. Thanks for sharing will try to do some of them with my daughter.
Marianne Botting
As a mum of a toddler who is not a fan of paintbrushes, I am very grateful for this round-up. Thanks! I will definitely be sharing with my readers
happyhooligans
So glad you enjoyed it, Marianne! Thanks for passing it along. 🙂
Julie
A brilliant list, and I picked up a few new ideas to try at the nursery next term 🙂
We also found the children love painting dots with blocks wrapped in bubble wrap! Great fun which can also lead to colour mixing, and the language of size if you have bubbles of different sizes like we did!
Jessica
I love commas too, but you’re completely over-using them.
happyhooligans
Oh my. You are absolutely right! How has no-one pointed that out before? Not sure what I was thinking when I wrote that post. Haha. I’ve just gone back and removed about a dozen of them. Thanks!
Rosa Marrio
Wow! amazing idea. This kind of creative art project encourages kids creativity and helps kids mental growth.
Glenn Mathis
Fantastic activity. I really wonder indoor activity for my kids. Then I choose the Daycare center. I really like your blog. Keep sharing.
Lyla Morris
Thanks for providing us such an informational post. personally, I’m a Big fan of art activity and It’s always a fun with my son.