Easy Toddler Car Painting

Last Updated on September 6, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Looking for an easy art idea with plenty of action? Try this toddler car painting activity! Comes with a free printable car to paint on!

One of the many things I’ve noticed in my 20+ years of teaching two and three year olds is their love for painting with cars.

Year after year, whenever I put cars and paint on the art table, it is loved by my little friends!

Here are some examples:

See? It’s a popular idea!

Today I am sharing a very similar activity, but this time I have a free car printable for the painted cars to drive on!

(Scroll down towards the bottom of this post to find the link to the download.)

Toddler Car Painting Activity

Before we get started, let’s talk about the types of cars to use.

This truly is up to you and what you happen to already have.

Because I am a big believer in first looking through your collection so that you don’t need to spend money buying more stuff. (Because I know we all have budgets to adhere to!)

I’ve done this particular activity for a few years now, and at first I started with some little character cars that someone donated to us. (You will see them in some of the photos.) And they worked fine!

But then I found a bag of monster trucks at a garage sale and knew that the oversized wheels would make great tracks, so I started using those.

Again, use what you have. But if you happen to have monster trucks, I suggest trying them!

Watch the video:

Supplies

Toy vehicles
Assorted colors of tempera paint
Trays (these are my favorite)
Car printable (scroll down towards the bottom of this post to find the link to the free download)

Preparation

Make enough copies of the car printable so each child has one. I suggest making extras in case a child would like to do more than one. If you have leftovers, put them on the easel or at the writing table! It’s optional if you want to cut the cars out.
Optional: Cover the table with white butcher paper. I like to do this because my toddlers love to make big movements with their cars. They often will want to drive their cars right off the printable and onto the paper!
Place a couple of trays in the middle of the table and squirt puddles of different colors of paint on each one.
Add cars to the trays.

Related: Activities That Use Toy Cars

Let’s Paint!

Invite your children to roll the cars through the paint and onto the printable.

As they are doing this, they will be mixing the colors. This is part of the fun!

Back and forth, up and down.

This is a great way to work on fine motor skills at the art table because they are using not only their hands, but their arms and shoulders, too.

Watch: Managing the Art Table

Last year, in addition to the monster trucks, I did add some smaller cars, too, so they would compare the sizes.

When finished, let dry and display in the classroom!

This was a fun addition to our transportation theme and trust me, they will want to do it again! We do this quite a few times during the school year, in fact.

Super easy, and I really appreciate this since our transportation theme is at the very start of the school year.

More: Favorite Transportation Books

Click on the graphics below for your free car pdf download: