*This post contains affiliate links
Toddler Painting Ideas
Do you struggle for toddler painting ideas? With painting being an activity that almost all toddlers love to do, it can often be tricky to try to vary the activity. This month we ditched the paint brushes and experimented with 10 different toddler painting ideas – all of them looked great, were lots of fun and you should have most of these items at home. The take home lesson from this week was to be creative and don’t be afraid to experiment. For all of these paintings I used a large roll of butchers paper which has been a great investment. At the end of the month we ended up with a LOT of paintings so I put these away to use as wrapping paper (add a ribbon and it looks amazing).
1.Apple painting
We decided to paint with apples after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and it worked really well. Cut the apples in half and off you go! I would love to extend this activity and paint with all of the fruit in The Very Hungry Caterpillar series.
2. Roller Painting
I love painting with rollers. I have these in my craft box, but you can buy them from most craft or dollar stores quite cheap. They make a really great effect and I’ve used them for lots of our craft activities like our paper plate birds.
3. Block Painting
No one has a toddler and doesn’t have some form of blocks or lego laying around. For this activity we used Mega Bloks. The best thing about this painting idea is that there are so many different block shapes to use. Flip them upside down and you can print with the circles on the top as well.
4. Brush Painting
For this toddler painting idea we used an old bottle brush. I was really impressed with how well this one turned out and my daughter had lots of fun with it. It created a great textured effect and is one painting method that I’ll definitely be experimenting with again.
5. Cotton Reel Painting
I’ve posted about Cotton Reel Painting before, but it is a great painting method, as they can stamp with them and roll them to create a variety of patterns. Cotton reels are such a versatile tool for toddlers that if you don’t have them at home you really should invest in some.
6. Leaf Painting
We experimented with the leaf painting idea as part of Autumn/Fall activities and the effect was great. We used leaves from the tree in our backyard, but you could create some amazing paintings by collecting a variety of different leaves and experimenting. This effect was created by stamping some of the leaves and dragging others through the paint. There are no rules – give your toddler paint and leaves and see what happens!
7. Finger Painting
We couldn’t talk about toddler painting without including finger painting. No instructions needed here I’m sure! This one does get messy so grab the wipes and get ready!
8. Playdough tool painting
Playdough tools are definitely well used in our house, as we make our own playdough all the time. We’ve also used the playdough tools for cooking (they make great cookie cutters) and today we used them for painting. I love using this method to make home made wrapping paper – grandparents love it!
9. Soda Bottle Painting
Who knew that you could paint with soda bottles! In fact we even used ketchup bottles. If you look at the bottom of your soda bottles you can see the different designs. They make great prints, so go through your recycling and see what you can find!
10. Plastic Whisk Painting
For this cool painting effect we used a plastic whisk that we never use. This created some great patterns and was a lot of fun. Definitely worth a try!
I hope this has given you plenty of toddler painting ideas. Hopefully this will keep your little ones from being bored for quite a while! If you would like more painting ideas you can find our sequel to this series, EVEN MORE creative toddler painting ideas here!
If you want to keep your toddler busy makes sure you subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
You may also like our Toddler Boredom Buster Series
Jenni - Odd Socks and Lollipops says
Amazing ideas, Boo and I are definitely going to have to give these a try!!
Carol says
Thanks Jenni
You Baby Me Mummy says
What fabulously creative ideas! I need to more sensory/messy play with Baby. Thanks for linking up to #TheLIst x
Charlotte @ Educating Elsa says
These are great ideas! I especially like the patterns the bottles make. I have only really just started doing crafty bits with Elsa because she wasn’t really interested before so I will have to remember all these things to try.
Carol says
Thanks for the lovely comment!
Let Kids Be Kids says
Lots of good ideas to get creative. The soda bottle painting looks very pretty, we must try it.
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
Louise says
Great ideas here and will be giving some of these a go. We’ve used the playdough cutters before and also tried printing with a potato masher which was fun but there’s a few ideas here that I haven’t tried. I like the idea of using butchers paper – we often use lining paper but it is a bit too thick to be good for wrapping paper so maybe I’ll have to get some butchers paper instead.
Nisha says
#toddlerapprovedtuesday – brilliant and inventive ideas….i like the soda bottle idea
Sara (@mumturnedmom) says
Great ideas 🙂 Adding these to my boredom beaters list! #letkidsbekids
Mamavsteacher says
These are all brilliant ideas… I think we’ll be back to borrow some in the Easter holidays! #ToddlerApprovedTuesday
Laura @ Life with Baby Kicks says
these are great ideas, I use my toddler paintings As wrapping paper as well!
I’ve never got more creative at home but I should. I bet scrunched up plastic bags work well and I have nursery crafts with train wheels!! I need to do more crafts with him x
Carol says
The plastic bag idea sounds great! I think the key is to use whatever is around you.
Alex says
Love these ideas, will definitely be trying them with Lamb! x #toddlerapprovedtuesday
playathometeacher says
I love it! My favourites are the bottle brush and the soda bottles. Thanks for linking up to #playathometuesdays
Carol says
Thanks for the lovely comments!
leandra says
Such great ideas, I love using unusual objects in our activities.
Thanks for linking #toddlerapprovedtuesday and appreciate the support x
Carol says
Thanks again for checking out my site!
Ashleigh says
Happy Thursday! This is great for the kids, thank you for sharing! Please come share and link up with me at
http://www.wrightsimply.com/2015/03/oh-my-heartsie-girls-wordless-wednesday.html
Have a great rest of your week!!
xx Ashleigh @SimplyWright
Carol says
Thanks Ashleigh, I’ll have to check out your link up!
Mummy's Little Monkey (@Jax2000) says
Ooooh, love the soda bottle painting *steals the idea* xx
Carol says
You’ll have to share a photo if you paint with them!
Brandyn Blaze says
Such great ideas! Can’t wait to give these a try with my little one!
#twinklytuesdays
Carol says
Thanks Brandyn!
Lisa (mummascribbles) says
This is brilliant! I was only sitting there a couple of weeks ago with the paint out thinking that I know there is stuff we can use and trying to think back to school days! Thanks so much for sharing and joining in with #twinklytuesday
Mummy on a Budget says
Such a great list. I’m going to try lots of these out. Reading this post inspired me to come up with another one – Balloon Painting! http://www.mummyonabudget.co.uk/2015/04/painting-with-balloons.html
Carol says
Great idea – off to check it out now!
susen @Dabbling Momma says
great ideas! Pinned to our paint board!
Carol says
Thanks Susen!
Mini Travellers says
I think the apple painring is a brilliant idea. I think I thought we had done all types of painting over the last 5 years! Thanks for linking up to #sundaystars
Carol says
Thanks, Glad you liked the ideas!
Shannon says
These are some great painting ideas!