Create this beautiful watercolor birch tree painting for kids filled with all of the gorgeous colors of autumn! This project uses an easy oil pastel resist technique. Using black oil pastel creates a barrier with the paint so that the birch tree can remain white. This creates a nice contrast with all of the fall colors surrounding it and gives the painting a dramatic look.

Kids will also learn about mixing colors together using a wet-on-wet technique and using salt to create interesting patterns in the paint.

There are so many fun watercolor techniques for kids to try! Take a look at my collection of watercolor painting for kids for more fun and creative ideas.

We have used a watercolor resist technique many times! It’s a great way to provide a barrier between different sections of a painting or different colors or to create patterns that appear as you paint. You can use different colors of oil pastels depending on the result you want to achieve.

Take a look at this watercolor resist fall leaf painting and this watercolor resist spider web art for more fun fall painting ideas!

Create your own birch tree painting for kids

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Supplies

Watercolor paper
Watercolor paint
Paintbrushes
Paint palette and water dish
Black oil pastel
Coarse salt
Pencil
Wooden board and painter’s tape (optional)

Instructions for your fall tree painting

1. First, you want to prepare your watercolor paper. Tape it down to a wooden board using painter’s tape. This is an optional step, but it does help to keep the paper nice and flat as kids are painting and as the paper dries. If you don’t have a wooden board, try taping it down to a table.

Drawing a birch tree with black oil pastels

2. Use a pencil to lightly draw in a birch tree. Start with a slightly curved line from the bottom of your paper going up to the top. This is the start of the tree trunk. Draw in another line next to it, to finish the trunk. You want your tree trunk to be slightly thicker at the bottom.

Remind kids to press lightly with their pencil so they can erase if they need to. Draw in a couple of branches on either side. Some kids might find it helpful to practice drawing their tree on a piece of scrap paper first.

Mixing watercolors in a palette for a fall tree painting

3. Use black oil pastel to trace over your pencil lines. You want to press firmly and use thicker lines to achieve the best results with the resist technique. Draw in a few lines on the tree trunk and branches with the black oil pastel to finish off the birch tree.

4. Mix green, yellow and red watercolor paint in a paint palette. If you are using liquid watercolors, squeeze a few drops of color onto the palette and then add water.

You can use liquid watercolor paint as I did or use a watercolor set. If you are using a watercolor set, you can try using the paint straight from the set to get really vibrant colors. Test out your colors first on scrap paper, watercolors will always dry slightly lighter.

5. Start by painting your paper with clean water, being careful not to paint inside the tree. You want your paper to be wet but not soaking. You can always dab the paper with paper towels to soak up any extra water.

Using a wet on wet technique for a fall art project

6. Using a medium to large round brush, start to dab on one color of paint at a time. You want to dab on the paint and let the wet paper mix the colors together rather than using a brush to mix the paint. This will help to avoid muddy colors and keep everything looking nice and bright.

This is called a wet-on-wet technique. For more details on this technique take a look at these 5 easy watercolor techniques for kids that produce fantastic results.

Using a wet on wet technique to paint in fall leaves for a kids art project.

7. Once kids are finished painting they can sprinkle on some coarse salt. As the salt dries, it will make interesting patterns in the paint to create more texture. Some kids will choose to sprinkle on a lot of salt while other kids may only want to sprinkle their salt in a few places.

As the paint dries the colors will mix together creating different shades, colors, and patterns. Each painting will be unique!

Sprinkling salt on a watercolor birch tree painting for kids

Let your painting dry completely on a flat surface. Gently brush the salt off into the sink or the garbage taking care around the black pastel to avoid any smudging. Carefully take the tape off around the edges.

birch tree painting for kids fall art project idea

This fall birch tree painting is an easy project that kids will love to make!

If you are looking for more fall art projects take a look at my collection of creative fall painting ideas for kids! There are ideas for kids of all ages that use different types of art materials and techniques.

More fall art projects kids will love

Fall Tree Painting with Bundled Q-tips

fall forest painting using bundled q-tips to create the leaves

Gorgeous Fall Leaf Chalk Pastel Art

Follow me on Pinterest for more amazing project ideas.

Pin this watercolor painting for later

Yield: 1 fall birch tree painting

Easy Watercolor Resist Birch Tree Painting for Kids to Make

This birch tree painting for kids is a fun and easy fall art project. Kids will use a watercolor resist technique and gorgeous autumn colors.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Time 40 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Materials

Watercolor paper
Watercolor paint
Black oil pastel
Coarse salt

Tools

Paintbrushes
Paint palette and water dish
Pencil
Wooden board and painter’s tape (optional)

Instructions

First, prepare your watercolor paper. Use painter's tape to tape it down to a wooden board or table. This will help to keep it nice and flat as kids are painting and as the paper dries.
Use a pencil to lightly draw in a birch tree. Start by drawing one side of the tree trunk, you want to draw a slightly curved line starting at the bottom and going to the top of the paper. Draw in another line next to it, to finish the trunk. You want your tree trunk to be slightly thicker at the bottom.
Next, draw in the branches. Use the photos above as an example.
Use black oil pastel and trace over your pencil lines. You want to press firmly to get the best result with the resist technique. Draw in a few lines on the tree trunk with the black pastel to finish off your birch tree drawing.
Mix red, yellow and green watercolor in a palette. Make sure to test your colors first on scrap paper, watercolor paint will always dry lighter.
Paint your paper with clean water, being careful not to paint inside the tree.
While the paper is still wet, start to paint with your fall colors. Use one color at a time and dab the paint on. Rinse your brush and try adding another color. You want to dab the paint on and let the wet paper and paint mix together on their own creating new shades and interesting patterns.
Continue painting until the paper is filled.
While the paint is still wet, sprinkle on coarse salt. As the salt dries, it will create even more interesting and unique patterns in the paint.
Let your painting dry completely on a flat surface. Once it is dry, carefully brush the salt off into a sink or garbage being careful not to smudge the pastel.
Carefully take the painter's tape off around the edges.