Still have a couple of weeks of summer left with your toddler or preschooler at home before school starts… and want fun activity ideas? We are so excited that our friend Allie Espinal with Scribble Dabble Creative Studio is sharing 5 low to no mess art activities that both you and your child will love! Scroll down to check them out!
Water Painting
If you’re looking for no mess art, water painting is a great place to start. All you need is a small cup of water, soft bristled paintbrush or Q-tips to paint with, and a sheet of colored construction paper as your canvas. If you don’t have construction paper at home, a seasoned* chalkboard is also a great reusable option. Set out materials and encourage your child to experiment by making different marks. *(“Seasoning” is to rub on a thin layer of chalk so it’s no longer a pure black).
Large Scale Scribbles
Recycled Materials Sculptures
This is a good one to pull out when those empty shipping boxes that are piling up. You’ll need cardboard boxes and other recycled materials you have on-hand (e.g., paper towel rolls), painters tape and Tempera paint sticks. If you don’t have paint sticks in your art supplies yet, they are a must: washable, dry in 90 seconds and can paint rich color on almost any surface (paper, cardboard, wood, etc.). Work together to build a sculpture by taping different recycled materials together and then let your child add color with their paint sticks!
Contact Paper Collage
Contact paper is another material that’s great to have on hand for lots of mess-free, creative fun at home. For this prompt, simply adhere a piece of contact paper to the back of a white frame mat so that the center of the mat is sticky from the front. Lay this out along with some collage materials (e.g., cut up pieces of construction paper or fabric, yarn, tissue paper, pom poms, etc.) and let your little artist go to work.
Sticker Drawings
I love themed stickers for an easy art activity laid out with a sheet of paper and any drawing material. I especially love puffy stickers for their tactile quality which also makes them a bit easier for small fingers to manipulate. Once your child has placed their stickers on the paper, a drawing prompt from you might look something like, “Wow, look at all those dinosaurs! I wonder what it looks like where they live? Can you use your markers to draw them a home?”
Follow @scribbledabblestudio on Instagram for more at-home art ideas or join one of our play-based art programs this fall with your own little creative. Learn more at scribbledabblestudio.com and check out a list of Fall classes!