Paint Ideas

Discover Mia's paint ideas and find loads of activities to get the kids painting. You will find lots of kids craft projects to keep the little ones occupied for hours.

There are some handy acrylic painting tips that will help you get the most out of your paints.

You can use any water based paints for these projects. I prefer to use acrylic paints because they dry quickly and retain the bright colors for ages.

Paint Ideas ~ Quick Links

Click on one of the images below to take you directly to the craft tutorial page or scroll down to find out a bit more about each craft before you decide.

red, orange and yellow splatter paintingSplatter Painting
leaves and flowers printing stampsPrinting Stamps
stained glass effect flower paintingDecorative Flower
pyramid paperweight decorated with stencil paintingStencil Painting
a painting made using ragsRag Painting
red and blue sponge painting effectsSponge Painting
butterfly painting with glueGlue Arts

Splatter Painting

I had fun experimenting with various splatter painting techniques each one giving very different results.

The splatter painting in the photo was made using a drinking straw to drop the paint on the paper.

You will find instructions and photo's on how to achieve lots of different effects.

A toothbrush gives a nice fine splatter and a large paintbrush will give you big blobs of color.

Decorative Flower Painting

Mia's decorative flower painting project will show you how to get creative with craft glue.

I'll show you how to make gorgeous stained glass pictures using acrylic paints and PVA glue.

The raised leading effect is created by mixing glue with black paint.

Printing Stamps

Make your own printing stamps and get the kid's painting with these craft ideas.

These printing stamps are really easy to make and use.

Your printed paper can be used in one of my other creative art projects.

Print on cardboard to make one of our boxes or a greetings card. This craft foam paint idea will keep the kid's occupied for hours.

Stencil Painting

Mia's stencil painting project is lots of fun and a great way to get the kids painting.

There is a stencil template for you to print out and use or have a go at making your own.

Stencil painting is inexpensive but can produce some great effects.

My stencil template gives you 4 great shapes in 3 different sizes. With clear instructions they are easy to adapt if you want to make your own templates.

Rag Painting

Rag painting is cheap and easy but can produce some great effects.

This kids craft project is so much fun and a great way to get the kids painting.

You can use any fabric scraps for this project, heavy fabrics will give bold patterns and light fabrics will produce feathery patterns.

These creative paint ideas are lots of fun and will hopefully keep the kids occupied for hours.

Glue Arts

Mia's glue arts project will show you how to get creative with craft glue.

I'll show you how to create this gorgeous butterfly picture.

There is a free template you can use or have a go at designing your own picture.

I used water color paper for this project as it doesn't warp as much as normal paper.

Sponge Painting

Mia's how to sponge paint is an easy kids craft project that's lots of fun and will keep the kids happy for ages.

I have tried different sponges for completely different sponge painting effects.

A Natural type sponge gives a soft cloud like effect, whereas the kitchen sponge with square edges gives more of a brick effect.

Scratch Art

Paint a piece of card or paper with a thick coat of Acrylic paint.

You will have to work quickly so the paint doesn't start to dry before you have finished.

As soon as you have finished painting use the pointed end of a paint brush to scrape away some of the paint.

You can scratch the paint in any pattern you want to. I have scratched the paint in a large cross-hatching pattern as you can see in the photo.

Paint Effects

Try these paint ideas for different effects. Paint the whole piece of card or paper then drag a cloth across the paint removing some of it. Try using colored card in a contrasting color to the paint.

Once you have made your scratch art design click on the link if you would like to make the gift box shown in the picture below.

Acrylic Paint Ideas

Acrylic paints are relatively inexpensive and come in a great range of colors.

The artist acrylic paints are usually sold in tubes and the colors give good coverage and retain their freshness for years if looked after.

Acrylic craft paints are usually sold in small bottles.

They don't usually have as good coverage as the artists paint and tend to work out slightly more expensive.

There is a much greater range of colors available in acrylic craft paints which can save you having to mix colors. Acrylics are great for all sorts of paint ideas and as they are water based they are easy to clean up. 

Acrylic paints are water based which means they can be thinned by adding water. You can use them just like water colors or straight from the tube like oil paints but they dry so much quicker.

As acrylic paints dry quickly it is a good idea to use small amounts at a time. If you are mixing colors this can be inconvenient as it's difficult to get the same colors if you run out.

Place an absorbent cloth on a plate and moisten with water then place your paints on the cloth. This will keep your paints from drying out so quickly. Just add more water to the cloth as needed. You can buy special stay-wet palettes for acrylic paints that work in the same way.

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