Check out this stunning way of painting this summer: water gun resist art! Create cool patterns and designs with this contact paper resist art that I invented. So fun for summer!
Contact Paper Resist Art
This is the first time that I think these words have been combined on the internet. Contact paper resist art is a new art form that I may have just invent!
We used contact paper recently for our Mother’s Day mason jar handprint craft and it was awesome. Contact paper makes a great resistance art medium because you can cut it into almost any shape you want and it peels off surfaces easily. We used it here with water guns and paint but with the Mother’s Day craft we used regular paint and it worked perfectly!
Water Gun Painting
We have painted with water gun before and it was awesome. This year we did something a little different and it was also very very cool as well.
We recently went on a trip to Niagara Falls and we took the kids to an arcade and they got to play a bunch of video games for the first time.
Neither my husband or I play video games so its not something that our kids are used to. My daughter had so much fun though that I knew she would really enjoy this painting activity and I was right!
How to Make Water Gun Resist Art
Here’s how to set up your water gun resist art activity with your kids this summer:
Fill your water guns with washable kids paint and water in a 1:1 ratio.
Next, grab your contact paper and trace and cut out some fun summer shapes like a popsicle, sun, fish, ice cream or pineapple! The sun was harder to cut out than expected and looked more like a star but that’s ok!
Stick them on your large white canvases. I found the contact paper didn’t like to stay put on the canvases despite being super sticky so if yours starts peeling, you may have to press the contact paper shapes on the canvases a little just before they start painting to make sure they are secure. The contact paper does not come off while they are painting.
If you are doing this activity on a fence like I did make sure to protect your surface with plastic sheeting everywhere. Also make it clear to your kids that they are not to shoot the paint on the fence but only the canvases.
Time to Paint with Water Guns
Hand your little one a water gun and let them paint the canvases! Soo much fun! I tired to stick to a few colours. The more colours you add the more the paint will mix and end up making a brown grey mess. Stick with two maybe three colors like red and blue or do colours that are close to each in the rainbow like red and orange or orange and yellow.
You can also experiment with the direction you want the dripping paint to go in. We flipped our canvases on their sides to let the paint drip in a new direction. You can try flipping it again and again to see what kinds of patterns you make!
Revealing the Resist Art
When they are done painting let them off the contact paper shapes to reveal to design below! If you wait to peel of the contact paper, the paint ends up spreading slowly underneath creating a really cool design. I let the sun contact paper sticker stay on for a while making this cool design. The others my kids took off pretty much right away and the resist art is more pronounced.
Age Suitability
This activity is good for kids 3 years and up. My kids are 4, 4, and 7 year old. Younger toddlers will need assistance.
Mess Level
This is a mess level is high. This craft is to be done outside and you need to cover the surfaces behind the canvases to pretend splatter from getting on other surfaces such as your grass and fence.
Difficulty to Create
Easy.
Skills Developed in Water Gun Resist Art for Kids
Gross motor skills, colour recognition, language development, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.
Supplies for Water Gun Resist Art for Kids
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- Contact paper
- Large white canvases
- Washable kids paint
- Water guns
- Scissors
- Sharpie
Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Looking for more summer activity ideas? Check out of these other round-ups for more ways to stay busy this summer:
- 40+ Fun & Easy Summer Crafts for Kids
- 25+ Outdoor Water Activities to Keep Kids Cool This Summer
- 40+ Awesome Outdoor Learning Activities for Kids
- 30+ Easy Outdoor Art Projects for Kids
- 60+ Awesome Outdoor Activities for Kids
- 45+ Awesome Water Sensory Bins for Toddlers & Preschoolers
- 40+ Water Table Activities for Toddlers
- 21+ Spray Bottle Activities for Toddler
- 20 Amazing Backyard Obstacle Courses
- 21+ Amazing Summer Sensory Bins
- 40+ Ice Sensory Play
- 12 Healthy Smoothie Recipes for Toddlers + Kids
WILL YOU TRY WATER GUN RESIST ART WITH YOUR KIDS THIS SUMMER? YOU SHOULD! ITS A LOT OF FUN! AND WHILE YOUR HERE WHY NOT PIN IT FOR LATER!
