Preschool art is much more than making a mess and is also more rewarding than the normal preschool craft activities. Just like our science activities for preschoolers, our preschool art projects are totally do-able and use simple supplies! Check out the fun and easy art activities for preschoolers you will want to try!
Art For Preschoolers
Young kiddos benefit greatly from the free use of materials in a less restrictive environment. See them create their own personal masterpieces and experience a sense of wonder and accomplishment all at the same time!
Preschoolers are naturally curious. 4 year olds love to observe, explore, and imitate, trying to figure out how things work and also how to control themselves and their environments. The opportunity to explore helps them form connections in their brain, helps them learn, and it’s also fun!
Art is a natural activity to support this essential interaction with the world. Preschoolers need the freedom to explore and experiment. Art allows children to practice a wide range of skills that are useful not only for life but also for learning. These include the aesthetic, scientific, interpersonal, and practical interactions that can be discovered through the senses, intellect, and emotions.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Sensory Play Ideas For Preschoolers
Making and appreciating art involves emotional and mental faculties. Art, whether making it, learning about it, or simply looking at it – offers a wide range of important experiences for 4 year olds.
In other words, preschool art is good for them! Yes, prepare for it to get messy sometimes but also prepare for an incredible sensory-rich art experience led by kids!
Art encourages…
- Fine motor skills through grasping pencils, crayons, chalk, and paintbrushes.
- Cognitive development from cause and effect and problem-solving.
- Math skills such as understanding concepts like shape, size, counting, and spatial reasoning.
- Language skills as children share their artwork and process with each other and with adults.
Tips For Preschool Art Lessons
How do you teach art to preschoolers and beyond? Here are a few ideas to support learning through art activities.
- Provide a diverse range of supplies. Firstly, gather a wide range of materials for your child to use like paint, colored pencils, chalk, play dough, markers, crayons, oil pastels, scissors, and stamps. See our helpful supply list below.
- Encourage, but don’t lead. Secondly, let them decide what materials they want to use and how and when to use them (make an accessible art cart or cupboard). Let them take the lead.
- Be flexible. Then, instead of sitting down with a plan or expected outcome in mind, let your child explore, experiment, and use their imagination. Secondly, they might make a huge mess or change direction several times—this is all part of the creative process.
- Let it go! Next, let them explore. However, they may only want to run their hands through the shaving cream instead of painting with it. That’s OK too! Children learn through playing, exploring, and trial and error. If you give them the freedom to discover, they will learn to create and experiment innovatively.
Quick List of Preschool Art Supplies
Preschool art is all about exploring art techniques with a variety of simple materials! I find having a specific cupboard, bin, or cart handy with easily accessed art supplies is helpful. While young children will need help getting out what they need, older kids will love the freedom to create.
The supplies listed below are all inexpensive and readily available at hobby or art supply stores. Grab a storage caddy and create your own art cart to make setting up art projects in your classroom or home super easy.
Homemade Paint Recipes
Note: Check out how to make DIY Paint Recipes including watercolors, traditional paint, puffy paint, finger paint, and edible paint!
- Flour Paint
- Finger Paint
- Edible Paint
- Snow Paint
- Puffy Paint
- Watercolors
- Fizzy Paint
- Washable Paint: Choose a set of assorted colors in bottles or jars. Tempera paint is safe for young kids and easy to clean up.
- Watercolors: Watercolor paints come in trays or tubes and can be diluted with water for a more translucent effect.
- Paint Brushes: Provide a variety of paintbrushes in different sizes and shapes, including flat, round, and foam brushes.
- Sponges and Foam Brushes are great for creating texture and experimenting with different painting techniques.
- Finger Paints: Use washable finger paints in vibrant colors for a tactile painting experience.
- Drawing Paper: Have large sheets of white drawing paper or rolls of paper for kids to use as a canvas.
- Construction Paper: Assorted colors of construction paper for collages and other cut-and-paste activities.
- Markers: Washable markers in various colors for drawing and doodling.
- Crayons: Non-toxic crayons for drawing and coloring.
- Chalk: Sidewalk chalk or chalk pastels for outdoor or indoor drawing on different surfaces.
- Playdough: Store-bought or homemade playdough in various colors.
- Clay: Air-dry or oven-bake clay for sculpting and modeling.
- Glue: Non-toxic, washable white glue or glue sticks for collage and sticking different materials together.
- Scissors: Child-safe scissors for cutting paper and other materials.
- Collage Materials: Provide various materials for collage making, such as colored papers, old magazines, tissue paper, fabric scraps, buttons, feathers, and yarn.
- Nature Materials: For nature printing and other outdoor-inspired art, collect leaves, flowers, twigs, and other natural objects.
- Stamps and Stamp Pads: Rubber stamps and stamp pads in different colors for printing and pattern making (my favorite and great for older kids too)
- Bubble Wrap: For bubble wrap printing.
- Cardboard Rolls: Use them for stamping, decorating, and making sculptures.
- Washi Tape or Craft Tape: Use patterned tapes to create pictures, borders, patterns, and shapes or to attach collage materials in an artistic way
TIPS: Remember that safety is important when choosing art supplies for kids. Always opt for non-toxic and child-safe materials if you have young kids! In addition, include some thrift store button-down shirts as smocks!
Helpful Art Resources To Get You Started
Here are a few resources to help you introduce process art more effectively to your kiddos or students and feel confident when presenting materials. You’ll find helpful free printables throughout.
- Free Color Mixing Mini Pack
- Process Art Projects
- How to Make Paint
- Easy Painting Ideas For Kids
- Free Art Challenges
- The 7 Elements Of Art
- Outdoor Art Activities
- STEAM Activities (Science + Art)
Get your FREE printable Preschool Art Calendar!
50 Easy Preschool Art Activities To Try
Check out these creative activities you can do with preschoolers. Click on the image to be taken to the full instructions and supply list.
All About Me Collage
This simple art activity encourages kids to explore themselves as well as things they enjoy. Includes free printable body outline template to use.
Baking Soda Painting
Making art with baking soda paint is a fun and easy art activity for young kids. What makes the art fizz?
Blow Painting
Have you ever tried blowing into a straw to paint a masterpiece? Now’s the chance to explore awesome process art with easy materials.
Bubble Painting
Mix up your own bubble paint and grab a bubble wand. Talk about budget-friendly preschool art!
Bubble Wrap Painting
Who doesn’t love playing with and popping bubble wrap! Make sure to set aside your next bubble wrap packaging to create colorful stamped designs inspired byfamous artist, Alma Thomas.
Coffee Filter Flowers
Learn how to makecoffee filter flowers for a fun and easy preschool art activity. You could also make coffee filter rainbows.
Corn Painting
Forget the paint brushes, and try this fun corn on the cob art project instead! Corn painting makes for awesome process art to explore the colors and textures of Fall.
Drip Painting
Similar, to our marble painting except this fun process art technique involves flicking or dripping paint onto canvas.
Fly Swatter Painting
You only need a few simple materials for this easy process art activity.Therefore, fly swatter painting is great for toddlers still learning to use a paintbrush.
Ice Cube Painting
Make these really easy ice paints, grab some large sheets of paper and let the kids have fun with this outdoor art activity!
LEGO Sun Prints
Make these construction paper sun prints. Quick and easy to set up, this is a fun science activity with an added art bonus!
Magnet Painting
Painting with magnets is a fantastic way to explore magnetism and create a unique piece of art. This magnet art project is a hands-on way to learn using simple materials.
Marbled Paper
Mix up your own shaving cream paint from kitchen supplies and make this colorful DIY marbled paper. You could also try marbled paper with vegetable oil.
Marble Painting
Can you paint with marbles? Absolutely! Get ready for art that’s a bit active, a bit silly, and a little messy. Roll ’em around, mix up a few colors, and create a Jackson Pollock inspired masterpiece!
ALSO CHECK OUT: Leaf Marble Painting
PinNature Weaving
Explore the natural world around you or add in some everyday objects or found art.For example, anature weaving project also doubles as found art!
Nature Paint Brushes
Make your own paint brushes out of natural materials and test them out!
Pinecone Painting
Nature’s bounty makes a cool paintbrush in this super simple to set up a process art activity for fall! Grab a handful of pinecones for a fantastic pinecone painting activity.
Paper Sculptures
Make these easy paper sculptures from simple shapes and explore abstract art for kids.
Paper Towel Art
This fun paper towel artis very easy to make with just a few simple materials. Combine art with science, and learn about water solubility.
PinRainbow Coloring Page
Use as a coloring page that is perfect for preschoolers or older kids too! Mix up some puffy paint and paint the colors of the rainbow.
Rainbow Tape Resist Art
This tape resistrainbow artis easy to set up and fun to do with kids at home or in the classroom. Plus, they will have the opportunity to learn about the tape resist art process.
Rainbow In A Bag
If you love the colors of the rainbow, here’s a simple and mess free sensory bag painting for kids. Make your own rainbow painting in a bag.
Reverse Coloring
Combine painting and coloring for a fun art project for kids of all ages. Download our free printable art project and create your own colorful art.
Salad Spinner Art
Combine a popular kitchen tool and a bit of physics for cool art and science that everyone is sure to love! Take this STEAM activity outside on a nice day!
Salt Painting
A simple to set up salt painting activity for kids. Any theme, any season, all you need is a little imagination, glue, and salt.
In addition, try these fun variations…
- Snowflake Salt Painting
- Ocean Salt Painting
- Leaf Salt Painting
- Watercolor Galaxy Painting with salt!
Shape Stamping
Painting or stamping with shapesis a fun art activity to do with young kids! Use everyday items to learn, for an easy way to teach kindergarteners and preschoolers basic shapes.
Skittles Painting
Learn how to make skittles paint and explore a simple color wheel activity for easy preschool art any day.
Snowflake Tape Resist
A super simple snowflake art project that is perfect for winter art! Our tape resistsnowflake paintingis easy to set up and fun to do with preschoolers this season.
Snow Paint Spraying
Can you paint snow? You betcha! Just a few simple supplies to make your own homemade paint and your have a fun winter process art activity for the kids.
Splatter Painting
Kind of messy but a totally fun process art technique, kids will have a blast trying paint splatter! Jackson Pollock is one of our favorite process artists! Give paint splatter a try, but maybe take it outside!
We also have these fun variations for you to try…
- Crazy Hair Painting
- Shamrock Splatter Art
- Halloween Bat Art
- Snowflake Splatter Painting
String Painting
String painting or pulled string art is a great way to develop kids’ fine motor skills, and strengthen grasp and manual control. Plus, it’s fun!
Tie Dye Art
No t-shirt for tie-dye? No problem!Plus, this tie-dyed paper towel is a whole lot less mess! Find out how to make tie dye paper as a cool way to explore colorful process art with minimal supplies.
Water Drop Painting
Try this simple to set up water droplet painting activity for kids. Any theme, any season, all you need is a little imagination, water, and paint.
Water Gun Painting
Squirt guns or water guns instead of paintbrushes? Absolutely! Who says you can only paint with a brush and your hand! A fun preschool art activity for the summer months!
Fun Art & Craft Activities With A Holiday Theme
Additionally, you’ll find a variety of art projects for kids grouped by season or holiday!
- Valentine’s Day
- St Patrick’s Day
- Spring
- Easter
- Earth Day
- Fall
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Winter
- Christmas
- Christmas Ornaments
Printable Famous Artist Pack
You’ll find each of our famous artists featured in our Famous Artists Project Pack 👇 including a bonus Andy Warhol Coloring Book!
22+ artists and growing with unique projects not available on the website!
