Simple Summer Art Activities

If your family is like ours this summer has been filled with activities, trips to the pool and family vacations. We haven’t done any “big” art projects but just because you are short on time doesn’t mean you can fit in time to create!

1. Paint the Driveway
No need for fancy sidewalk chalk paint. A bucket of water and a brush can be just as entertaining. For the older child try a variety of big and small brushes or rollers.  Try splash painting too. Splatter the water off the brush and watch your action painting take place on the driveway.  Let the sun clean up for you.2.  Make your own coloring book
Take a few sheets of printer paper (standard 8.5 x 11). Fold in half and staple along the folded side. If you have a younger child you may want to cut the paper in half and then fold in half into a book (fits in little hands better) or use this method
to save paper.  Let your child create their own book . There are so many different ideas you can do, vacation journal, garden journal, nature hike, favorite objects, family album (maybe I should do a whole post on this topic).  For our book we
focused on using stickers and markers while practicing counting.  The older child could write and illustrate their own summer adventure!

3.  Paper Plate Painting
I love this one because clean up is so easy for painting.  Squirt two colors on a paper plate let your child mix together right on the plate. Great color mixing for little ones. If your child is older let the plate dry and then let them turn it into an animal or their own creature or monster by adding details of a face.

4.  Food as Art
I can’t take credit for this idea, it comes from a friend of mine. She bought licorice but no one in the family liked it.  With her two little girls  they cut up the licorice and arranged them in different ways on white paper.  Great cutting practice for beginners. You also could practice arranging the licorice into shapes or letter writing.  Don’t have licorice in the house? You can use carrot sticks, celery or grapes (cut in half so they don’t roll away). Combine your favorite snacks into beautiful creations and then eat the snacks as you clean up.  Don’t want to waste food or have and older children? Cut out pictures of food from a magazine and create a collage. Check out for inspiration Italian artist, Giuseppe Archimboldo.

5. Stamping
Cut up an old kitchen sponge.  Clip a cloths pin on the end of the sponge to use as a handle. Dip the sponge in paint and then stamp on the paper.  Another idea is using bubble wrap to create a stamp.