I love painting with watercolors and so do my kids! These watercolor techniques for kids are some of my favorites and are so easy for kids of all ages, even preschoolers can give these a try. They are easy to use and produce such unique and beautiful results.
All of these techniques can be used as process art ideas, let kids create and experiment with no finished project in mind. Or you can try some of the projects that we have done using these methods. Check out my awesome watercolor painting for kids post for more fun and creative ideas kids will love!
Mixing Watercolor Paint
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You can use a watercolor paint set or liquid watercolors, each type and the different brands will give slightly different results when it comes to how the colors look and behave on paper.
We generally use a watercolor pan set when we do our projects. I like the vibrant colors of this brand especially, these paints last a long time and are fairly cost-effective. We have been using this same set for a while, and there is still a lot of paint left.
These liquid watercolors are also great and can produce vibrant colors.
Preparing your watercolors is super easy, you need water, a watercolor palette, and of course your paints and paintbrushes.
You can use the paints straight from the paint set, wet your brush first with clean water, before dipping it in the paint color. This will produce vibrant and bold colors.
If you want to lighten the color up a bit, you can always add more water into the little watercolor paint circle, or add some water to a paint palette, load your brush up with your chosen color, and mix it with the water. This will dilute the color quite a bit.
I like to keep some scrap paper handy to test out the colors. Most of the time, you want to make your colors a bit darker than you need, they will dry lighter especially if you are using a wet on wet technique.
If you are using liquid watercolors, you will need to dilute them quite a bit, although yellow doesn’t always need any diluting. Put a few drops of liquid watercolor on your paint palette, then start to drop in clean water with a brush. Make sure to test it often so you don’t dilute the color too much.
Reasons to use real watercolor paper
We use student grade 140lb watercolor paper mostly, it’s cost effective and works well. Watercolor paper is designed to hold and absorb water without the paper wrinkling or tearing and the paint just soaks in and stays vibrant. If you have ever used watercolor paper for a project it is hard to go back to regular paper!
Some of my Favorite Watercolor Supplies
There are a ton of art supplies out there for kids, it’s hard to know what to choose! Below are some of my favorite supplies to get you started.
- This watercolor paint set and this one is also good (we’ve used both)
- liquid watercolors
- Watercolor paper
- Paint palette
- Paintbrushes
Easy Watercolor Techniques for Kids
Wet on Wet Technique
This is probably the easiest and most common watercolor technique for kids to try and can easily be done by younger kids. It is also the base for building on some of the other techniques so it’s a good one to try first.
Basically, you paint your watercolors onto wet paper and as the paper dries, the paint mixes and creates beautiful unique patterns. The number of colors you use for this technique is up to you, try using 2 or 3 to start.
1. First you want to prepare your paper. You can tape your paper down to a wooden board using painter’s tape (some hardware stores will give you scraps for free). This will help to keep the paper from sliding all over when painting (which can be frustrating for kids), create a nice border around the finished painting, and also help the paper dry flat.
If you don’t have a wooden board to use, you can try taping your paper down to a desk, or simply just skip this step.
2. Next, mix your paint in your palette or just use your paint straight from the paint set. Remember to test your colors on scrap paper to make sure they are dark enough.
3. Using a flat brush, paint your entire paper with clean water. You don’t want the paper to be soaking wet. If you find it too wet, you can simply dab it with some paper towels.
4. Start to paint your paper, using one color at a time. Kids can experiment with painting in different ways, they can dab the paint on or paint in long brushstrokes across their paper like in the example above.
Remind them to not mix the paint together on their paper or the colors will get muddy. Make sure that kids wash their brushes in between colors. As the paint dries, the colors will mix together and create beautiful and unique patterns!
If you are wanting your paper to dry faster, you can always use a hairdryer to help.
We use this watercolor technique a lot, often combined with other methods. You can see this technique in action in this beautiful sunset silhouette watercolor painting and these unique watercolor bookmarks.
Using Salt with Watercolors
This is a fun one! The salt can create some really interesting patterns as your paper dries. You use the wet-on-wet technique first and then sprinkle on your salt while your paper is still wet.
We have tried regular table salt and coarse salt and the coarse salt is by far our favorite!
1. First, paint your watercolor paper using the wet-on-wet technique.
2. While your painting is still wet, sprinkle salt onto your painting. Let kids experiment with where to put their salt and how much to use. Try out table salt and coarse salt to see the different patterns each makes.
3. Let your painting dry completely before brushing the salt off into the sink.
We use this salt technique a lot in our watercolor projects, I love the salt patterns in our Monet Water Lilies Art Project for Kids , in this gorgeous watercolor butterfly painting, and these easy watercolor flowers.
Oil Pastel Resist Technique
Using oil pastels as a resist with watercolors is so versatile and can be used in so many different ways! The oil pastels act as a barrier and can really help to keep different colors and parts of your watercolor painting separate.
1. Prepare your watercolor paper and get your paint ready. You can use a paint set or liquid watercolors.
2. Decide on what colors of oil pastels you would like to use. Kids can start with just using a black or white oil pastel or choose a color or even 2-3 colors of oil pastels. Think about just having fun and exploring this technique.
3. Start by drawing out some shapes or scribbles with a pencil. Kids can draw anything they like, you can do hearts, flowers, or just a fun scribble drawing. Use your oil pastels to trace over your pencil drawing.
4. Paint inside and outside of your pastel drawing with different colors of watercolor paint. As you paint, you will notice that the oil pastels act as a barrier to keep the different paint colors separate.
We use this oil pastel resist technique all the time! Take a look at this beautiful winter birch tree painting, this gorgeous poinsettia painting where we used different colors of pastels, and this colorful spider web painting idea.
Spatter or Splatter Painting
Some people call this technique spattering, others call it splatter painting, whichever way you say it kids will love to do it! It’s a super fun watercolor technique that can add interest to any art project. You can use 1 color or multiple colors, there are no rules.
1. Choose a watercolor project you would like to add some spatter painting to, you can use a painting with the wet-on-wet technique, or with the salt technique, it’s up to you. Or just a plain piece of watercolor paper is fine to start!
2. You generally want to mix your colors on the darker side. In the example above, we used a dark green and a gold color.
You can do splatter painting on paper that is wet or dry, each one will give you a different effect. If your paper is wet, the paint will soak in more, and spread out a bit, giving it a softer effect.
3. Hold your paintbrush in one hand and with your first two fingers on your other hand tap your paintbrush across your paper, creating a splatter effect. Get more paint on your brush and try again. Keep going until you like how your painting looks.
This is a great technique to paint snow, which you can see here in our Northern Lights Watercolor Painting for Kids.
Sticker Resist Watercolor Technique for Kids
There are so many fun possibilities with different shapes and sizes of stickers, you can’t go wrong with this painting idea!
1. Get your stickers, paper, and paints ready. I like to use simple shapes for this technique. Remember, it will just be the silhouette shape that’s on your painting so you don’t want anything complicated.
2. Place your stickers on your paper, pressing down firmly.
3. Paint your paper with your watercolors, we used a wet-on-wet technique with 3 colors for our example.
4. Let your painting dry completely. Take your stickers off to reveal your amazing design underneath!
You can see how we used this technique in these Sticker Resist Watercolor Valentine Bookmarks. And I just love how this Watercolor Easter Egg Art with Stickers turned out.
Using Plastic Wrap with Watercolors
Another simple technique that results in gorgeous patterns and textures in your painting!
1. First, mix up your paints, get your paper ready, and have some plastic wrap handy. You can use 1 or more colors for this project, I think using at least 2 gives a nice effect.
2. Next, paint your paper using the wet-on-wet technique.
3. While your painting is still wet, place some plastic wrap onto the paper. Move it around a bit to create some interesting texture, you don’t want it flat against the paper.
You can see in the example above that the wet paint pools underneath the plastic wrap, this will create some really cool and interesting patterns
4. Wait for your painting to dry completely before taking the plastic wrap off underneath to reveal your beautiful painting!
I love the textured effect of this watercolor method, the lines and streaks it creates across the paper give it a structured look, which is a bit different than the softer feel of using salt or just a wet-on-wet approach
We used this technique for our 3D Flower Mother’s Day Cards as you can see in the example above.
These watercolor techniques for kids are simple to do, but so fun and engaging for kids to create and explore! I hope you have a chance to try a few out. I would love to hear about your favorite technique that you have tried.
We love creating and exploring with different art supplies and techniques. If you are looking for more art projects to try, take a look at our ultimate collection of amazing art projects for kids!
More art projects kids will love
The Best Painting Ideas for Kids to Try
Awesome Chalk Pastel Art Kids Will Love to Create
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