Here’s a cute paper car craft for kids made with sponge painting. You can even use these colorful paper cars to decorate for a car themed birthday party! (Post also includes a free car template to make this project even easier.)

Follow our Cars, Trucks, and Trains Pinterest board!

As I was trying to think of a car craft for my 3 year old, I remembered how much Theo loves sponge painting. (We made these caterpillars, elephants, and Christmas trees with sponges!) His love of sponge painting helped inspire this sponge painted car craft- perfect for little hands! (This post contains affiliate links.)

Paper Car Craft for Kids

Materials for Paper Car Craft

• White art paper
• Regular kitchen sponges cut up into 2 inch squares
• Tempera paint
• Scissors
• Glue
• Black paper
• White paper
• 1 inch circle punch (optional)
• Free car template

Directions for Paper Car Craft

1. Print out the free car template. Cut out the car shape and trace it onto some sturdy paper (like card stock or a manilla folder).

2. Cut out the car shape from the center leaving the surrounding area intact. You now have a car-shaped stencil.

3. Place the stencil on top of a blank piece of art paper. (For smaller kids you might want to tape the stencil down so it doesn’t move as they are working.)

4. Place some tempera paint on a paper plate.

Dip your small square sponge into the paint and use it like a stamp, stamping paint over and over inside the stencil. (You can stamp quite a few times before having to dip your sponge into the paint again.)

5. Carefully remove the stencil to reveal your car shape. Let it dry.

6. Cut out two wheels from some black paper. (We used patterned scrapbooking paper, similar to this, for a neat look!)

7. Cut out two smaller white circles. (We used a 1 inch hole punch, but you can cut these by hand if you’d prefer.)

8. Cut out the dry painted car shape leaving a tiny white border around the edge.

9. Glue the white circles onto the center of the black circles creating wheels. Glue the wheels onto your car.

Let your car craft dry and display it!