water color for kids

I’ve been sharing quite a few videos of Paige and Samuel using our watercolour paints on my Instagram recently, and I had a LOT of interest in how I introduced watercolour painting with my little ones. I want to share some of my best tips for beginning watercolour painting with toddlers, plus some simple activities using watercolour paints that you can do with your little ones.

This article is not sponsored in any way. All recommendations are from personal experience.

But first, I want to share our favourite watercolour paints that we use – the Micador Stylist Watercolours (pictured). They are just DIVINE! The colours are super vibrant, and for the quality it amazing for the low price! There are currently two sizes of watercolour palettes in the Stylist Watercolours range – the 12 disc and 36 disc, and Micador have recently released the new Jumbo sized 12 disc (which I have found is the perfect size for toddlers!) in their Micador Junior range. We use the brushes that come with each set, and I provide a jar of water for rinsing the brush between using different colours.

Before you start painting though, there are some steps you can take to set your little one up for success, especially if they are new to using watercolour paints!click here

Tip #1: Cover the black

Every time we’ve got a new set of watercolours, the first thing I do is cover the dark discs with painters tape. I don’t know about you, but in my experience working with children in my time as a teacher, there is something about the colour black that children are just drawn to! And that’s awesome – I have nothing against black – BUT when you’re using watercolours and are washing your paintbrush between each colour, as soon as black is used, ALL the other colours slowly turn black from the dark water. So the best way I’ve found to prevent that: simply cover it up!

Tip #2: Use a tray

Whenever the watercolour paints come out, so does this tray (we use this Kmart serving tray). It’s big enough that I can put the watercolour palette, the jar of water and the paper all on the one tray, and so if there are any accidental spillages, all the mess is contained. If you don’t have a serving tray like this one, a large baking tray would work just as well!

Tip #3: Cut paper in half

This is a simple way to prevent paper wastage, especially if you are finding your little ones are experimenting with the process and want a new piece of paper to work with every 6.5 seconds. By cutting the paper in half, you will not only use less paper, but the size is more manageable for your littlest ones, especially if you are using the small brushes that come with the Micador paints.

Tip #4: Wet the paint before you start

My last tip when using watercolour discs like the ones we use is to wet the paint before you start. I usually use a pipette or a spoon to drop around a teaspoon of water on each colour which makes the paint glide onto the paper so much easier, especially for the younger munchkins that aren’t patient enough to wet the paint with their paintbrush before they start painting!

So now that I’ve shared my tips for how to set up for success, it’s time to paint! I’ve found sitting next to the kids when they were learning how to use the paints and demonstrating how to dip the brush in the water, then in the paint, then use the brush to make marks on the paper works wonders. It’s also important to show your little one that each time we use a new colour, we need to wash the brush in the water.

For children just beginning to use these types of paints, I would suggest giving verbal reminders as you paint:

‘Dip the brush in the water. Good, now choose a colour. Great! Now on the paper. Well done. Now in the water again. In the paint. On the paper. Good job! In the water, then the paint. Now on the paper. Great work!’

Samuel still needs those reminders when we start, and I’ll sit with him until he’s at the point where he knows the routine and doesn’t need me to remind him. Then I either sit quietly next to him and talk to him about what he’s painting, or I move away (but just enough so he’s still in view) and let him paint independently.

But this has taken over a year of being exposed to watercolour painting to get to this point – it certainly didn’t happen overnight!

Be patient with your little one, and try to remember that it’s not the end result that is important, it is the process and allowing your little one to express themselves in their own way. Not all artworks are going to be frame-worthy masterpieces, but that doesn’t mean that your little one won’t be proud as punch of their work!

And now, here are some more ideas using water colour paints that you can try with your little ones:

Sharpie art

Provide a permanent marker for your little one to draw a design onto their paper before they begin painting. You might like to draw a design for them if you don’t trust them with a Sharpie yet! You could draw their name, shapes, their favourite tv show or book characters – the possibilities are endless!

Crayon Resist

If you’re not quite comfortable in handing over a permanent texta to your little one, you could also try a crayon resist artwork. Let your little one draw a design in coloured crayons, then paint over the top. A popular scene to draw using this technique is an underwater setting – draw fish, seaweed, shells and other undersea creatures, then paint over the top in blue!

Hidden Picture

Use a white crayon to draw a design onto a white piece of paper, then encourage your little one to paint over the top to reveal the picture! Your little one will think it’s magic!

Coloured Paper

Sometimes something as simple as changing up the colour of the paper can make an activity seem like a whole new experience! Light colours work best when using watercolours – light green, yellow, and light blue usually show most colours well.

You could also try using How to Introduce Water Colour Painting to Toddlers

This article is not sponsored in any way. All recommendations are from personal experience.

But first, I want to share our favourite watercolour paints that we use – the Micador Stylist Watercolours (pictured). They are just DIVINE! The colours are super vibrant, and for the quality it amazing for the low price! There are currently two sizes of watercolour palettes in the Stylist Watercolours range – the 12 disc and 36 disc, and Micador have recently released the new Jumbo sized 12 disc (which I have found is the perfect size for toddlers!) in their Micador Junior range. We use the brushes that come with each set, and I provide a jar of water for rinsing the brush between using different colours.

Before you start painting though, there are some steps you can take to set your little one up for success, especially if they are new to using watercolour paints!

Tip #1: Cover the black

Tip #2: Use a tray

Whenever the watercolour paints come out, so does this tray (we use this Kmart serving tray). It’s big enough that I can put the watercolour palette, the jar of water and the paper all on the one tray, and so if there are any accidental spillages, all the mess is contained. If you don’t have a serving tray like this one, a large baking tray would work just as well!

Tip #3: Cut paper in half

Tip #4: Wet the paint before you start

For children just beginning to use these types of paints, I would suggest giving verbal reminders as you paint:

But this has taken over a year of being exposed to watercolour painting to get to this point – it certainly didn’t happen overnight!

And now, here are some more ideas using water colour paints that you can try with your little ones:

Sharpie art

Crayon Resist

Hidden Picture

Use a white crayon to draw a design onto a white piece of paper, then encourage your little one to paint over the top to reveal the picture! Your little one will think it’s magic!

Coloured Paper

You could also try using paper in different shapes – square, triangle or round paper like this, to make it interesting for your little one!

Guided Painting

For children that are beginning to experiment with drawing specific objects (for example they want to know how to paint a rainbow, a person or an animal), it is nice to sit with them and paint alongside, showing and explaining each step then letting them have a try.

For example, for the rainbow below, I painted a big red arch, then let Paige (who was 2.5y at the time) to have a turn. Then I painted the orange arch underneath the red, and let Paige copy. This technique of guided painting helps develop confidence as it breaks an overwhelming task into smaller, manageable steps for your little one. As you can see, her rainbow certainly wasn’t perfect, but she was a lot more successful than if I let her try independently.

Ice Painting

Ice painting is exactly what the name suggests – painting on ice! This is definitely one to save for the warmer months, when the hot weather melts the ice and in turn blends the colours in the most beautiful way!

I truly hope that you found this post for introducing watercolour painting to toddlers useful! If there’s a tip or activity I shared that you want to try, let me know in the comment section below, or email or DM me on Instagram to let me know how you went! I just LOVE seeing you being inspired by our posts!

Happy playing!

Lycie xx

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