Sponge Painted Fish: Outdoor Summer Art

INSIDE: Sponge Painted Fish: Outdoor Summer Art is an easy painting activity for toddlers and preschoolers (and even older kids will get a kick out this). Paint a giant rainbow fish using sponges! This makes a great summer art activity!

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How to Set Up a Sponge Painted Fish: Outdoor Summer Art

Grab a large roll of white paper, cut out a large piece and draw the outline of fish. Add as much detail as desired.
Use brown packing tape to secure the picture on to a fence or hard flat surface.

NOTE: although washable kids paint comes out of most clothing it may not come off your wooden fence. Test before hand or place a large plastic sheet under your fish to help prevent the paint from getting on to your fence. When doing these types of activities with my kids, I keep close eye on them to make sure they don’t start painting on the fence and I make sure to rinse off any paint that does get on the fence by accident right away.

Grab 6 paper plates, pour out some washable kids paint in the various colours of the rainbow on to each plate.
Add a sponge to each plate.
Invite your toddler or preschooler to dip the sponges into the make print the paint on the fish to decorate it like a rainbow.

How they Painted

This was a real hit right away. My camera froze up when they first started so I wasn’t able to capture the beginning of the creation of the rainbow fish. At first my 3 year olds wanted to use the sponges like sponges and wash the paint on by moving the sponge side to side. I showed them how to dab the sponge instead to create a beautiful textured print. After the fish was complete they started mixing colouring. Then they started using their hands. At this point, I decided to pull out another sheet of paper for them to free paint.

I just love painting outside and this one was a real winner!

Supplies for Sponge Painted Fish: Outdoor Summer Art

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