Tips for Painting with Sponges with Kids

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My kids love painting, but sometimes they have a problem trying to come up with a creative way to start painting. Painting with sponges can help control the mess and offer a variety of creativity for your kids! It seems especially my oldest can’t always figure out what to paint when there is a blank piece of paper. So to change things up again we painted (or really “stamped”) paint by using different shaped sponges.
You can make your own sponges by cutting out shapes (try different sizes and textured sponges!) or you can purchase pre-cut shapes like we have. You can find this typically in your store’s craft section or at the Dollar Tree.

 

 

Using the shaped sponges for painting really opened up a whole new world for my kids in painting! I made sure to have a small bucket of water nearby so they could rinse their sponges. Make sure they squeeze out all of the excess water otherwise their paper will be soaked and possibly tear!

 

This is the imprint from the sponge in the plate of paint – pretty cool huh? The really neat thing you can see below is that same textured look is mirrored in my son’s actual artwork.

 

I thought these turned out pretty cool with the spongy texture in it. I really think the kids could have done this all night they had SO much fun! I only had a few sponge shapes but am planning on making some more for them. If you have older kids you can even let them cut out their own spongy shapes! Have you done sponge painting? What sorts of shapes do you have?

Tips for Painting with Sponges with Kids:

  1. Use pre-made shapes for younger children.
  2. Let older kids create their own shapes as well as have pre-made shapes available.
  3. Have an old towel handy for quick spills, messes, and wiping hands.
  4. Use a wide based bowl or dish of water to rinse dirty sponges in.
  5. Try different textures of sponges!
  6. Don’t be afraid to mix things in the paint like glitter, sand, and even rice to add texture!
  7. Make sure to squeeze the water out ALL THE WAY! Otherwise your paper will get runny fast!

 

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