We’ve done dropper painting before, a long time ago when the girls were little. Back then we used droppers saved from medicine bottles, but these days all our medication seems to come with a spoon not a dropper, so I splurged a few dollars on a set of plastic pipettes when we were at Riot Art and Craft the other day. I knew dropper painting was going to be a big hit will all three big kids.
What You Need
Eye droppers or pipettes – one for each colour.
Food dye, very watered down paint, or we used our marker paints.
A container for each colour of paint/dye.
Paper serviettes/napkins or coffee filter paper.
Something to put under your paper to catch the drips!
What to Do
The joy of this activity is that it is easy. There is no right or wrong way to do it, and it’s all about the process.
After showing my kids how the pipettes worked I left them to explore and experiment.
Watching how the paint is ‘sucked up’ by the paper and spread in circles.
Discovering little rivers of colour running down your page.
Experimenting with how the colours mix and combine.
Of course we ran out of paint and space to dry our master pieces before we ran out of interest and enthusiasm!
For more information about why process oriented art is important for kids check out Childhood101’s ebook Art Not Craft – affilliate link.
looks like so much fun :)
We recently tried out dropper painting too. I bought droppers and liquid watercolor paint from discountschoolsupply.com. We used it with watercolor paper, coffee filters (to make hearts for Valentines) and then we took the dropper painting idea outside one day when there was now on the ground and made snow art! It is lots of fun :)
I was just thinking the other day about how much fun I personally have doing all these “kid activities” !! Parents have it good. We get to be creative and have fun everyday with our kids. What a life right? :)
oooh dropper painting in the snow sounds awesome! Almost makes me wish it snowed here… though I really don’t like the cold!
And liquid water colours would be perfect for this… sadly I am having trouble finding anywhere to buy them in Australia.
Edicol dye is what to look for. It is a powder that you mix with water. Lasts for ages as you only need the slightest amount.
Oh, I love this idea! We have been exploring colours with my youngest and this would be perfect, especially for mixing to make new ones! Thanks!
This looks lots like what we did with lots of grown woman(textile artists) recently but we put the liquid pigment in spray bottles It was great and the finish amazing The children look as absorbed as we were.
I have been telling myself for over a year that I need to buy some droppers for art projects. Your kids looks so absorbed in the process and their works is beautiful, so I just need to go out and buy some. I wonder if they sell them at a drugstore.
Looks so pretty and it is fun watching the ink “spread”.
Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!
Maggy
I just love this activity. Looks like the little ones loved it, and the product at the end is beautiful. Thanks for sharing with the Kids Co-op!