The kids had a lot of fun with this marble painting art activity!
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I love getting inspiration from my very talented blogger friends. When I saw this FREE ABC Art Book from Playdough to Plato I knew that it was perfect for my son and his young friends who regularly come over for crafty playdates. I do encourage you to check it out and try the book with your kids!
Each page of the book is an activity for each letter of the alphabet. M is for Marble Painting, and was one of the most fun pages in the book!
- Large deep baking dish or container
- White paper
- Painters’ tape
- Paints
- Marbles
I taped the underside of the paper down to the bottom of the baking dish so that it didn’t shift position. Then I added little dots of paint at each side, and popped a marble into each one. I love how they are all lined up ready for action!
Then it is time to get rolling. If you use a metal baking dish like we did it will make a pretty big CLANG every time a marble hits the side. Which happens quite often!! Get the kids to tilt the dish around to make patterns on the paper.
If you are worried about them becoming overzealous and the marbles escaping you could always tape a layer of plastic wrap (cling film) over the top! I tried this with kids aged 3.5 to 6.5 years, and only a few escaped!
F’s masterpiece was a really random collection of lines:
Miss L managed an almost perfect grid shape design, with no diagonal lines at all!
Mstr F worked really hard to cover all his paper and declared that this way of painting was “really fun!”.
For once I managed to dissuade Miss E from using more than three colors and she loved her finished picture.
If you have little kids you might like this Marble Painting in a Cake Tin we did years ago! Oh and remember to go and grab the ABC Art Book that inspired this art activity – and check out the other printables while you’re there!
I tool soooo many ideas from you I thought I’d shoot you one of mine. Have taught 4K for 20+ years and love getting new ideas – THANKS!
Have you ever tried to marble paint a CD? I use the containers that 25-50 cds come in. Put a cd in it silver side up (I use old advertising cds that parents donate or out of date cds) I put the marbles in a cup of tempra paint and take them out using a spoon and place them on the cd. I use 2 marbles – 2 different colors at the same time. Then I put the cover back on and make sure it’s locked. Then I let my 4K kids shake away! I don’t have to worry about a flying marble. They can do it as long as they want. Plus they love the noise it makes. When they are done, I carefully remove the marbles and take out the cd to dry. I’ve used them to put a picture in the middle which covers the hole. I did find out I needed to use Crayola tempra paint as the other brand I had flaked off when dry. Other than that, it’s a fun project.
Thanks again!
Pam
Sounds like great fun! Thanks for sharing!