Glue Gun Apple Art

This Glue Gun Apple Art is a simple fall craft that combines watercolor painting with a raised glue design. Kids use an apple template to create the shape, add lines with a low-heat glue gun, and then paint over the finished design with watercolors.

The dried glue creates raised sections on the paper and helps separate the watercolor colors. Kids can stick with traditional red, green, and yellow apple colors or use any colors they want.

This apple art project works well for a fall craft, apple theme, classroom art project, or an afternoon activity at home.

Materials

You will need:

• Low-heat glue gun
• Apple template
• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors
• Paintbrush
• Water
• Pencil, if needed for tracing

How to Make Glue Gun Apple Art

1. Start by placing or tracing your apple template onto a sheet of watercolor paper. Watercolor paper works best for this project because it can handle the water and paint without becoming as wrinkled or soggy as regular paper.
2. Next, heat up the low-heat glue gun. Carefully trace around the outline of the apple with hot glue.
3. Add more glue lines inside the apple. You can make straight lines, curved sections, swirls, shapes, or a simple pattern. The goal is to divide the apple into smaller spaces that can be painted individually.
4. Allow the glue to cool and harden completely before painting.
5. Once the glue is set, get the watercolors ready. Use a paintbrush to fill the different sections of the apple with watercolor paint. The raised glue lines will remain visible between the painted sections and give the finished apple a stained-glass-style effect.
6. Set the artwork aside until the watercolor paint is completely dry.

Try Different Watercolor Techniques

This apple watercolor art project is also an easy opportunity to experiment with watercolor techniques.

Try adding clean water to a section of the paper before adding paint and watch how the color spreads. Kids can also place two colors next to each other to see how they blend.

For a bolder design, use less water with the paint. For softer colors, add more water.

Kids can also make several apples and experiment with a different painting technique on each one.

Tips for Making Glue Gun Apple Art

• Always supervise children when using a glue gun. Even a low-heat glue gun and melted glue can become hot. For younger children, an adult should create the glue outlines and let the child do the watercolor painting.
• Keep the glue lines fairly thick. Very thin lines may be harder to see once the apple is painted.
• Wait until the glue is completely cool before adding watercolor. This also gives you a chance to check that all the sections are connected the way you want.
• Don’t worry about perfectly smooth glue lines. Uneven lines work well for this type of art project and make each apple different.
• Use watercolor paper rather than regular printer paper for the best results. If the paper starts to curl while drying, allow it to dry completely before placing it underneath a heavy book to flatten it.

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