Scrape Painting Art Activity
Let your preschooler try a new way of painting and color mixing with scrape painting. It’s a fun twist on traditional painting.
Benefits of Painting with Preschoolers
Painting with preschoolers can be messy (the understatement of the year, I know). However, there is good news!
Painting has a whole host of benefits for even the littlest learners.
Even if your little one isn’t quite at the point where they can identify colors independently, they can still see what happens when two colors are mixed together.
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Scrape painting allows little ones to mix colors as they want on the paper. They can also push, drag, and move the paint in a way they don’t usually do with a paintbrush.
Little ones practice spatial reasoning when deciding where paint can go and how much to move to the open space on the paper (and hopefully not the table 🤞).
Holding a paintbrush or paint scraper helps to strengthen fine motor muscles in your little one’s hand. The stronger the fine motor muscles, the easier it will be for your little one to zip their zipper, tie their shoes, and, of course, hold a pencil to write.
Painting and creating art is a confidence booster for little ones. They can see their hard work and ideas brought to life on paper, and they will feel a sense of pride when they create something with their own hands.
Items Need
*paint (we used tempera paint)
*thick paper (like poster board or cardstock)
*paint scrapers
Paint Scrapers
There are paint scrapers you can buy to create art like this tutorial.
Once your little one has tried scrape painting, they may want to try using other things to scrape paint with.
Cutting out a piece of cardboard and cutting different shapes (squares, half circles, etc.) out of the bottom of it may work. You may wish to try cutting a wavy line out of the bottom of the cardboard so that it creates a wave when dragged through the paint.
This may lead to other types of painting, like using cars or balls and rolling them through paint.
All of these ideas are fun and worth a try (outside) after trying scrape painting!
Scrape Painting How To
1. Place the thick paper on the table. You may want to place newspapers or an old tablecloth under the paper to prevent paint from getting on it while scrape painting.
2. Put a small amount of paint dotted around the paper. Try using blue, red, and yellow to show color mixing and creating a different color. If painting for fun, let the preschooler choose what colors to use.
Either way, it will be fun for your little one to see the colors mix while scrape painting.
3. Grab a paint scraper and begin dragging it across the sheet and pulling the paint around the paper.
4. Let your little one experiment with swirling the paint around the paper with the paint scraper.
5. Once done creating scrape paintings, let the paintings dry.
Scrape Painting with Preschoolers
Painting doesn’t always involve a paintbrush and paper. By making a few fun changes (like trying scrape painting), you can create a new activity that may entice even the most reluctant artist.
