Today I want to share a very simple and wonderful way for children to enjoy painting.  Water colors are simple and timeless. We have all bought those trays of paint circles where you did your brush in the water and smear it on to create the water colors.  It is even better to allow children to create their own paints.  I am going to share the first one of these today and more in the next post.

 

There are so many recipes for making your own paints that there is never really a reason to go and purchase commercial paints. My book “Process Art: Paint” shares many recipes for creating your own paints with simple things that you probably already have in your home. The greatest benefit is that children can enjoy the process of creating the paint as well as creating with the paint.

 

The Materials:

 

• Small Bowls
• Water
• Food Colors
• Spoons (for mixing color; one spoon for each color)
• Paint Brushes
• Cardstock, Poster Board, Construction Paper, Watercolor Paper (or other surfaces to paint)

 

The Process:

 

Fill the bowls with water, or when possible provide a child size pitcher and allow the child to pour water into the bowls. Next, squeeze small drops of food color into each bowl. The colors should begin with pure colors squeezed into each bowl. Let the child stir the color into the bowls and see the depth of color. Does he want more color for a darker result?  You can continue this process if desired by letting the child learn to mix colors. This allows him to concentrate, and predict what may happen when he mixes different colors. He can then apply changes and analyze the results of those changes.

 

Often small children will continue to mix colors enjoying the process until the final result is a muddy brown color. That is fine. It is a learning process. This can be done multiple times as an activity and combined with painting as desired. Over time the child will develop an understanding of how the colors work and look at perfecting the colors he wants rather than just continuing to mix.

 

 

All of the Process Art painting projects included in this series of posts and many more are in the book. All of my books are available at Amazon.com. Direct links to all of the books can be found on the page “Dr. Andrea’s Books.”