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You are here: Home / Art / Toddler No Mess Painting Activity Using Plastic Wrap

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Toddler No Mess Painting Activity Using Plastic Wrap

October 31, 2011 by Sheryl Cooper

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Inside: This toddler no mess painting activity is all about the process. Little hands press plastic wrap on top of paint for a fun sensory experience!

If you’re looking for a no mess activity for the art table, this is one of our favorites!

Toddlers love pressing down on the plastic wrap, moving the paint around.

Even though hands are not directly touching paint, this is still a delightful sensory experience.

As the plastic wrap touches the paint, the hands can still feel the movement of the paint even though they aren’t directly touching it.

A fun process art activity that can also work on color recognition skills!

toddler no mess painting

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

What you will need:

  • Paper
  • Tempera paint (we used four different colors)
  • Plastic Wrap
  • Tray
  • Masking Tape

toddler preschool process art

Setting up this toddler no mess activity:

Place a piece of paper on a tray.

Squirt dollops of paint on top of the paper. (These do not have to be very large.)

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

Lay a piece of plastic wrap on top of the paint and then tape it to a tray.

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

Now the activity is ready to go! You can create as many of these trays as desired (depending on how many children will be participating).

No Mess Painting

Invite your toddler to press on top of the plastic wrap.

If they’ve never done this before, show them how to gently push on the wrap to move the paint around.

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

If your toddlers are like mine they might at first lift their hand, expecting to find paint on it.

What a surprise when the hand is clean!

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

As your toddlers are moving the paint around, encourage them to use their fingers and also the palms of their hands.

Such a fun way to work on fine motor skills!

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

What happens when the colors overlap?

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

When finished, remove the tape and plastic wrap, letting the paint dry.

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

More color ideas to go with this activity:

Art: Rainbow Collage

Fine Motor: Rainbow Suncatcher

Sensory Table: Color Sorting Water Bin

 

Toddler No Mess Painting Activity with Plastic Wrap

More No Mess Activities

Muddy Pigs Sensory Art

Colorful Window Collage

 

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Filed Under: Art, Toddlers Tagged With: art, process art, toddlers

About Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper is the founder of Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, a website full of activities for toddlers and preschoolers. She has been teaching this age group for over 20 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

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Comments

  1. Deborah J Stewart

    October 31, 2011 at 5:10 am

    Haha – you make me laugh Sheryl! I bet they loved squeezing out their own paint. I have done lots of projects where I break out into a sweat too! Too funny. This is an idea I will use every year:)

  2. Anonymous

    October 31, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    I see in one of your photos in the background there is a bottle of watercolor paints, did you use these as well or just used these bottles with the tempra paint in it instead of the liquid watercolors?

  3. Sheryl

    October 31, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    That was an empty watercolor bottle that I refilled with tempera paint. Always recycling! 🙂

  4. Anonymous

    November 1, 2011 at 7:19 am

    Hi I’m a childminder from England and look forward to your fb links daily! All your ideas and activities are so inspirational! I love this idea but before I begin just need to check – do I leave the wax paper stuck together to dry or pull apart? Xxx

  5. TrishKouf

    November 7, 2011 at 11:55 pm

    My kids actually wanted to rip off the wax paper and get their hands into it….i was surprised because usually they want to run to the sink after fingerpainting….oh well it was worth a try and maybe i’ll try it again soon. Thanks for this fun activity….i enjoyed not having a huge mess haha.

  6. Tessiemae

    December 30, 2011 at 11:32 am

    You have the best ideas on your blog… My kids are going to love this. Thanks for sharing.

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