You’ll definitely want to try our latest art process art project– painting with pipettes and watercolors. This classic art activity for kids is always a hit and is fun for all ages- toddler, preschool, kindergarten and on up. We used droppers and liquid watercolors to create really colorful and interesting art- such a fun activity for little hands and great fine motor practice too!
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Watercolors always seem to be our go-to art material when we’re looking for something quick and easy. (Be sure to check out these other projects using watercolors: Colorful Newspaper Snowflakes and Tide Pool Art for Kids.) So today when I was trying to think of an easy project to keep my poor sick little guy occupied, I grabbed our usual favorite material- watercolors!
This watercolor activity uses pipettes or droppers and is so fun and mesmerizing to watch. Kids love seeing how the colors mix and bleed together.
More Fun Art Activities
Art for Kids: Painting with Watercolors and Droppers
This project was actually more fun than I bargained for- Theo had a BLAST observing the unusual patterns and colors spreading over his paper! And it also doubled as a learning experience. Theo has never used a dropper before, so he felt quite a bit of pride learning a new skill (and I loved he was getting in some much need fine motor practice while gaining confidence in creating too).
Materials for Process Art Project
- Watercolor paper (This is my favorite art paper. It’s inexpensive and works for a variety of art materials.)
- Liquid watercolors (Our absolute favorite liquid watercolors!)
- Droppers or pipettes
- Medium paintbrush
- Containers to hold your paint and water
Start by painting your whole sheet of watercolor paper with water.
Add your liquid watercolors to some containers. (You can water them down a bit or leave them as is for more vibrancy.)
Place a dropper or pipette in each container. (You can also use an ice cube tray to hold you paints!)
Theo had never used a dropper before so we practiced with it for quite a while- just sucking watercolors into the dropper and squeezing them out over and over!
Now fill a dropper with some watercolor, and squeeze out one drop onto your paper. Watch what happens! Keep adding more and more to create some beautiful art!
Theo decided to see what would happen when he dropped paints on top of each other.
He loved the results!
“I make butterfly, Mommy!”
Then he discovered that painting with two droppers is also really fun!
And he was also pretty excited that he could make the letter ‘x’ with two droppers. “X, Mommy!!” I got to see that ‘x’ at least 20 times today!
Tip: If your child ends up covering their entire paper with tons of liquid, take a paper towel and press it onto the paper to soak up the liquid. It will help it dry more quickly and leave a cool texture-like design.
Theo ended up creating quite a bit of art with this technique! I’ll definitely be pulling this quick and easy painting activity out again!
Find more hands-on activities in our ebook! Learn more about it here, or buy it now here!
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Veens says
February 3, 2014 at 8:47 pmThis one is easy to set -up and so fun! Will have to do this with Aarya and I am sure he is going to love it 🙂
Emma @ P is for Preschooler says
February 3, 2014 at 9:14 pmHow great for fine motor skills! He certainly looks like he enjoyed it – and the end result is lovely too!
Jo says
February 4, 2014 at 3:25 amIf you don’t have water colours, water and food colouring works well too. I normally let the kids do it on a folded piece of paper towel and when you open it up, it’s awesome.
Thanks for the ideas!!!
Chelsey says
February 4, 2014 at 8:29 amThanks for sharing these wonderful tips! 🙂
Jeanette Nyberg says
February 4, 2014 at 12:44 pmLove it! The double droppers are the best part. It’s like magic when the paint spreads around…
MMK says
February 5, 2014 at 4:10 pmGreat idea! Just did this with my three kids (4.5, and 2 year old twins). It was a huge success. Love that is all safe materials cause twinkie #1 was sticking the dropper in his mouth lol!!:)
Chelsey says
February 5, 2014 at 4:15 pmYay! So glad they all enjoyed it! 🙂
Tara from The Magnolia Barn says
February 6, 2014 at 10:52 amLove how simple, creative and beautiful this art project is. Pinned!
Sheryl @Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds says
February 9, 2014 at 7:13 pmWe love droppers and pipettes too, Chelsey! I love that ah-ha moment when they understand how to suction and then release the liquid. Thank you for sharing on my Facebook page!
Chelsey says
February 9, 2014 at 9:19 pmYes! I love when using the dropper just ‘clicked’ for him! He was so proud! 🙂 Thanks so much for the opportunity to share!
Rachelle says
February 10, 2014 at 8:44 amLovely! I just shared this on my Facebook page.
Becky says
February 10, 2014 at 11:52 amGreat idea! Thanks for another fun thing to do with my grandchildren.
Krissy of B-Inspired Mama says
February 12, 2014 at 9:30 amThanks for sharing this! I’ll be featuring it on B-Inspired Mama’s Kids Co-Op Link Party tomorrow.
Chelsey says
February 12, 2014 at 9:37 amThanks so much, Krissy!
Jodi says
February 12, 2014 at 11:03 amWhat a fun technique. I just pinned it and featured you at Mom’s Library over at Meaningful Mama. Thanks so much for linking up this week! I hope you’ll join us again.
Tori says
May 16, 2015 at 1:26 pmThis is a great idea. Also you can use a white crayon to draw on the paper before wetting it, then watch the image appear as the colors are dropped on to the paper.
Sarah L. says
July 22, 2018 at 12:55 pmWe tried this at home, but the colors would all blend and turn ugly and brown when you dropped one color on top of another. Did you have to water down your liquid water colors at all? How do you “mix” the colors and stay somewhat separate too?