Water Drop Art for Kids

This water drop art activity for kids is a fun and easy process art activity that uses drops of water for printmaking.

Kids of all ages will be fascinated by this easy STEAM activity that combines science and art into a magical creative process. With a few basic art supplies, learn about surface tension and cohesion wile making some gorgeous art.

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There is something magical about the way water beads on waxy surfaces.

Add a little colour to the water and you’ve got a cool science meets art activity, that you can easily turn into an interesting printmaking activity for kids.

Not only is there some fun science concepts behind this process art activity, but using eye droppers is also a great fine motor workout!

What is Surface Tension and Cohesion?

Cohesion and surface tension are the reason that the bubbles of water sit on surface of your paper.

Cohesion is the attraction between molecules of the same substance, in this case, water. It’s the force that causes the water molecules to stick together. This force is what allows water to form droplets rather than spreading out in a thin film.

On the surface of the water droplet there are no water molecules above for them to stick to, so the molecules on the surface band together even more tightly. This creates what we call surface tension, which is like a tight “skin” on the surface of the water droplet. Surface tension is what makes the water droplet hold its shape and prevents it from spreading out flat.

These concepts are not always easy to explain to kids, but it is easy to show them!

There are loads of great surface tension experiments and activities you can do with your kids, but this water drop art activity also includes some ideas about absorption as well as a bit of colour and some printmaking!

Water Drop Art for Kids

This science + art (STEAM) activity is great for preschoolers and older kids.

You’ll need a few simple art supplies for this activity, and lots of space to dry your artwork!

Supplies for Water Drop Art

• A nice flat surface to work on.
• Water mixed with liquid water colours or food dye.
• An eye dropper or pipette for each colour.
• Some wax paper pr parchment paper.
• Some water colour paper, or other thick absorbent paper.
• Somewhere flat to dry your artwork.
• A smock or apron.

You’ll need a nice big sheet of wax paper (parchment paper will work too) for this water drop art activity. You can use the same sheet of wax paper multiple times, but you may want to wipe it clean with a paper towel in between.

We put our wax paper on a tray to help contain the mess. This activity is not too messy, but clean up is much easier when you can wash a tray instead of the whole table!

We used liquid water colours diluted about half/half with water to get nice strong colours, and plastic pipettes similar to these ones.

You will also need some thick, absorbent water color paper for the best results. Regular printer paper or newsprint will work but the paint will not absorb as quickly and will run a little after taking a print. It could be fun to experiment with different types of paper. See what happens if you try coffee filters or paper towel.

How to do Water Drop Art with Kids

The process for this water drop art activity is easy – drop small amounts of liquid onto the wax paper and see what happens!

The wax paper doesn’t absorb the liquid so it beads and forms little droplets of colour.

If you carefully add more liquid onto a droplet you can watch how it grows!

The surface tension makes the water into a dome shape as the water molecules at the surface of the droplet have more attraction to each other than they do to the air molecules. They will try to stick together for as long as possible, even when you add more water.

Eventually when you add too many water drops, the surface tension will lessen, and the dome will spill over, taking up more space on the wax paper.

Encourage your kids to experiment with the water drops and see how big a drop they can make before the surface tension breaks and the droplet spills over.

Explore and see what happens if you put two water drops very close together. Will the cohesion pull the drops together?

Once you’ve had fun experimenting with surface tension and the wax paper is covered in coloured droplets, now you can try some printmaking!

This time use the absorbent paper and carefully place the paper on top the water droplets, pressing down gently. Give it a little time for the paper to absorb the liquid, then lift it off to see the print.

We had as much fun dropping the colours onto the wax paper and watching what happened as we did making prints from it.

My kids love it when art and science collide!

We made a quick video of the whole process too..

For more fun with surface tension try one of these activities and experiements:

Super Simple Surface Tension from Science Sparks.
Exploring Surface Tension from Buggy and Buddy.
Testing the Surface Tension of Liquids from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls