Spray Bottle Painting

Is bigger always better? Not exactly. But sometimes, switching up the scale of an activity can create magical results. Case in point – this Spray Bottle Painting activity! By enlarging the scale of the canvas, you encourage children to move around, jump, stretch, and bend down. It’s active painting at its best! And you’re not only increasing the size of the canvas…but you’re switching up the painting tools too. Instead of using paintbrushes or fingers…your kiddos will use spray bottles. That’s right…your average spray bottle can transform into a magnificent painting mechanism…one that will help your little ones create some absolutely stunning abstract art.

I mean, you simply can’t go wrong with spray bottles – kids love using them! And when you add a bit of paint to them…you just might blow your kiddo’s minds! 🙂

Our little nugget spent the better part of an afternoon running back and forth between her two giant canvases – creating a set of delightfully colorful masterpieces! She also thoroughly enjoyed twisting the spray bottle nozzles to discover the various ways that she could manipulate the spray (be it a short spurt of paint…or a larger splatter).

Is there any better way to spend an afternoon soaking up the sunshine?

Supplies:

Large Sheet of White Craft/Butcher Paper (we used this 2-foot wide roll)
Spray Bottles (we found ours at Dollar Tree)
Washable Tempera Paint (in whatever colors your heart desires)
Water
Clothes Pins/Clips/Tape (optional)

Instructions:

Start by adding tempera paint to your spray bottles (one color of paint per bottle). Add a little bit of water at a time to the spray bottle, and give it a good shake…in order to mix the paint and the water together. You want to add enough water to the paint, so that it can easily spray out of the nozzle – without clogging up.
Once the spray paints are ready, it’s time to lay out a canvas (or two). Spray bottles can cover a large territory, so you want to make sure to have enough paper to capture it all. 🙂 We went with a long (single) roll, that we taped flat on our patio. And then we hung a long (double roll) from our fence – with the use of some heavy-duty clips.
Grab the watered-down paint and let the spray bottle painting commence!

Note: Odds are there will be some excess paint splatter outside the edges of your canvas. That’s why we use washable tempera paint – it comes right off with the spray of a garden hose…or a nice steady rainstorm!

This simple art activity is incredibly engaging! It encourages kiddos to move…all while promoting motor skills and dexterity (it takes a lot of work to squeeze a spray bottle over and over again). 🙂 And I always find that our daughter enjoys a nice, open-ended art project – one where there is no a specific end-result in mind. She’s free to create whatever she wants! It’s exciting, empowering, and liberating all that the same time.

We now have three gorgeous, paint-splattered sheets of craft paper…and we are busy brainstorming various ways to use them. So far, we’ve found that they make wonderful backdrops for any kind of art/painting party. They also make lovely backgrounds for framed photos. And we can’t wait to cut some up to use for completely new art projects and collages. The possibilities are endless! Let your creativity run wild!