Little hands need nice large, easy to hold, art tools, and these homemade peg and sponge painters tick all those boxes, plus they are loads of fun to print and paint with!
Easy Sponge Printing Activity
These easy DIY peg and sponge painters are easy to make, and they use items you likely already have at home, or you can collect from the supermarket.
To do some sponge printing you’ll need:
- Spongeor soft foam pieces
- Clothes Pegs
- Plates or similar flat containers for the paint
- Paint.
- Paper
- Something to cover your work surface.
- Smocks or aprons.
We used some soft packing foam sponge that I had saved from the recycling to make our sponge painters, but you could also use kitchen sponges bought from the supermarket, or any other soft spongy material.
To begin with I cut our big sponge into smaller pieces and then into some basic shapes – squares, circles and triangles. Then we added a clothes peg to the top of each sponge shape to make easy handles to grab onto.
We used washable liqutemp paint in bright primary colours. You may need to water down the paint a little if it is very thick, and don’t add too much paint to each plate. It’s better to top up the paint during the activity, rather than have a big squishy plate full of paint at the start.
Put a little paint in the middle of each play and spread it around a bit with your peg sponge painters. Now you can go wild sponge printing, dabbing and painting to your hear’ts content!
This is a great process art activity for all ages. Toddlers, preschoolers, and even adults will enjoy this easy art activity where the focus is definitely on the process of experimenting and exploring with the peg sponge painters.
You’ll need to have lots of paper on hand so the kids can try out lots of techniques and make all kinds of paintings, and you’ll need somewhere to dry them all too.
Do your kids love printing and painting activities?
What is your kids favourite thing to print or paint with?
If you have a go at some sponge printing we’d love to see some pictures! Tag me on instagram (@picklebums) or share a photo on our facebook page.
Here are some more easy printing activities you might like:
Lulu says
Love the idea of attaching pegs to the sponges! Have done a ton of sponge painting in the past but never thought to use pegs to hold onto.
I recently saw a post, can`t remember where, in which they were painting with toothbrushes. Thought that was a cool idea! I loved painting with potatoes when I was a kid- with shapes cut out of them. Have painted with different vehicles before with Noah too…that was fun.
So do you let the littlest pickle paint yet?
katef says
No,,, Noey doesn’t have any interest in painting at the moment. He’d rather just scrunch up the paper and eat it, so that’s what he does, if he’s not asleep :)
cathy @ NurtureStore says
Great idea to add the pegs. Have you tried painting with marbles? It’s great fun http://nurturestore.co.uk/marble-painting
Melissa says
I love this and the other article about using household objects. using the clothespins to hold onto the sponges is absolutely brilliant! Now that it is summer here and way too hot to be outside, this will be a lot of fun. Thanks for the great crafty reminder!
Lulu says
Came back to say that I saw another great idea on another blog {Chasing Cheerios} about salad spinner art. Maybe hard with four kids all wanting a turn at one time but still a fun one to try sometime!
Cut paper to fit in the bottom of the salad spinner, put paint in and go! I am definitely going to try this- will let you know how it goes.
katef says
Have seen this around before…if only we had a salad spinner!
Rebekah says
I love the idea of using clothespins for spongepainting. A great idea for kids who like to keep their fingers clean.
Jamie @ hands on : as we grow says
Love the added fine motor practice with the clothespins – and it keeps their fingers clean! Awesome!
Mandi @ Boredom Busting Mommy says
I can’t believe I’ve never thought to add pegs like that! Wonderful idea! My boys love sponge painting. :)
Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas says
Sponge painting is fun and I love that you were able to make your own!
Marbles painting is lots of fun for the kiddos as well as using some veggies to make prints. I did that with my girls and they LOVED it.
our veggie print post in case you are curious – http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com/2011/04/our-very-first-vegetable-garden.html
thanks for sharing this on the sunday showcase! Hope to see more from you next week!
Tammy @ Kids Make Mess says
I love this idea and I tried it while back with pom poms. Trouble was, every time my daughter picked up the clothes pin, she pinched it and the pom pom fell off. Did you experience this at all?
katepickle says
That’s not so much of an issue with the pieces of sponge because they are pretty thick and kind of wedge the peg open. Maybe an elastic band around it to hold it shut might help?
Tammy @ Kids Make Mess says
Thanks! I’ll try the sponge instead.