Kids will love this fun and easy art project! We’re making stained glass art with tape resist! With tape resist, you just stick some tape to a canvas, paint over it, and then pull the tape off to reveal a colourful creation. It’s a great project for toddlers and preschoolers, but kids of all ages will love it!
Resist Art is one of my favourite ways for the kids to make art here in my home daycare. It’s fun and easy and all ages love the process.
Today, the toddlers are creating the look of stained glass using this simple art process. Even the two year olds participated in this project today, and produced some really beautiful paintings.
Supplies need for tape resist stained glass art:
- paints
- painter’s tape
- canvas (we used white cardboard)
For your stained glass art, you can use watercolours, acrylics tempera paints or even our homemade watercolours. You can see  how to make our homemade watercolour paints here.
Marking our stained glass pattern with painter’s tape:
We’ve made stained glass art on dollar store canvases before, but today, we’re just using white cardboard. They kind of look like stained glass window panels, don’t they?
Have your kids place strips of tape all over their canvas. Older kids can do the taping on their own, but toddlers and preschoolers may need some help.
Once the pattern is taped onto the canvas, the kids can get to the fun part – the painting.
When I was explaining the activity to the children, I suggested that they paint each section of their artwork a different colour, and that they load up their brushes well with paint.
The painted sections will be more defined, and “pop” a little more if the paint colour is intense.
I wondered if the twos would grasp the concept of using a different colour for each section, and they did! Â This little one was meticulous about it. Â I was really impressed to see someone so young follow that suggestion.
Some chose to use their paint more loosely, overlapping their colours, but the results was just as beautiful as the others, perhaps even more so as they produced lovely multi-coloured sections.
Some chose to paint lightly, and others chose to paint several adjacent sections the same colour, and you know what? Â They all looked great when they were finished.
When the kids are finished painting their canvases, and when the paint has dried a bit, it’s time for the best part.
Pulling up the tape!
Don’t worry if your paint hasn’t dried entirely, as long as you’re careful not to put your fingers in it when you’re tearing off the tape, it will be fine.
If you’ve used cardboard for your canvas, like we have, just tear the tape off gently so you don’t lift away the top layer of cardboard.
For more easy “stained glass” art projects for kids, check out:
Stained Glass Jars with Sharpies
Stained Glass Art with Sharpies and Photo Paper
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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.
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Rebekah
Great idea and they are all very beautiful!
Aisha sherina
wow …that a good idea to get my kids do a new piece of art…
happyhooligans
It’s fun and easy, and looks really pretty too! Have fun with yours, Aisha. 🙂
Jennifer
thank you — this is going to be our first art class next week — Yay!
happyhooligans
You’re welcome, Jennifer! Gosh, I feel so honoured that you’re using it for your first class! Hope you have fun with it!
Eva
Hi Jackie, I try lots of your ideas with my two little boys at home and they always work a treat. Thank you! But this tape resist art is giving us some trouble. When I peel the masking tape I always take a layer off the paper too, which frankly ruins the whole thing. I suppose it is ok for hanging it as a picture as you wouldn’t notice it much from distance but we were trying to make this as front page of a birthday card and as such the rips don’t look nice. I tried this on carton type paper and also some other nice paper and the result is the same. Have you ever encountered such problem? I may give it one more go and buy a different brand of masking tape.
happyhooligans
Oh yes, it’s not masking tape that you want, Eva, it’s “painters tape”. It’s usually coloured (often green), and it’s not nearly as sticky as masking tape. You can get it in the paint section at the hardware store or Walmart.
Jennifer Denning Carlson
Another trick that might help is take the pieces of tape and stick them to your jeans before you stick them to the paper. We do this & it works fine with watercolors.
happyhooligans
Oh wow! Great idea, Jennifer! That’s definitely one way to make them less sticky! I’d have never thought of that. Thank you!
Eva
Thank you all for comments. I had a look (online) at B&Q and I got the impression that they use masking and painters tape for the same thing. May be an English thing? But I will try to buy one that says “painters tape” and see if that makes a difference. Meanwhile I will try the jeans trick…so neat! Thank you
happyhooligans
Super! Good luck, Eva!
Slyn
You used white cardboard, is that like white poster board, or something different? Thanks.
happyhooligans
What we used is more like the weight of a cereal box or more accurately, a cake-box, Slyn. My friend gets it for me from the packaging company that she works at. Poster board would work too I imagine.
Lynelle
I would love to do this with my daughter. Just wondering would water colours work on a canvas? Or would I need to use acrylic paint? Thought a canvas would be great so then I could hang it on her wall.
happyhooligans
Water colours would probably work as long as you make sure the tape is pressed down firmly. My only thought would be that the water colours could seep underneath the tape, whereas acrylics are thicker so that’s less likely to happen. Let me know how it goes if you give it a try, Lynelle.
happyhooligans
Love the spin you put on yours, ladies!