My son gets really excited when we try new painting techniques. We had a random unused balloon kicking around and that was the inspiration for this painting fun. The first preschool painting idea is really quick and easy to do. If you scroll on down I’ve shared a more adventurous idea for bouncing water filled balloons with kids but it can get a little messy with paint involved too.
What You Need
- Plate
- Paint
- Balloon
- Paper
How to Balloon Splat Paint with Preschoolers
- Blow up the balloon but only mid way so it’s easy for little hands to hold onto.
- Squirt some paint into a plate or flat surface. We decided to have a base of green and then added some lines and spots of other colours on top.
- Dip the balloon into the paint. When you lift it up you’ll see the paint has already mixed up a bit on the bottom.
- Dab the balloon onto paper and re dip as needed.
Balloon Bounce Painting
This activity is loads of fun for any age but can get very messy so is best done outside on a sunny day. Children (and grown ups!) will love dipping the water-filled balloons into paint and bouncing them on an elastic string to make a splat painting.
What You Need
- Balloons
- Elastic (old rubber bands work well)
- Water
- Large sheet of paper
- Washable paint
- Trays for paint (we used plastic plates)
How to Balloon Bounce Paint with Kids
- Lay out a large sheet of paper somewhere outside that you don’t mind getting messy with some paint. We used washable paint so it was easy to hose off the ground afterwards.
- Fill some water into a balloon then blow up and tie it. The water is just to weigh down the balloon and let it bounce on the elastic. You can try adding different levels of water into each one for different weights of balloon.
- Tie a length of elastic onto the end of each balloon. An old rubber band works well.
- Put a few colours of paint into different trays beside the paper.
- The children can now dip their balloons into the paint
- Now hold the elastic and bounce the balloon onto the paper making paint splats all over it.
- Have fun experimenting with different balloons, colours and bouncing techniques!
You could cut your final artwork into shapes and make a collage with it, or use it as fun wrapping paper.
