Inside: Bust summer boredom at home, school, or camp with Squirt Gun Painting, an amazing art experience for kids of all ages.
Yesterday I received the first official “Mom…I’m bored!” of summer. Frankly, I’m surprised it took two weeks! Of course, it was from my oldest son, who is almost always bored when no one is playing with him.
I gave him my old digital camera and sent him outside to photograph the elusive albino squirrel known to munch on cracked corn at our bird feeder every morning. My other kiddo can happily entertain himself for hours on end. In fact, not once in his 4-years of life, has he ever proclaimed boredom.
Isn’t it funny how two children, raised almost identically, can be entirely different?
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Squirt Painting
Boredom is an Opportunity for Adventure
Well, my aspiring photographer apparently needs to work on his stealth and shutter speed. He came back 5-minutes later and admitted defeat, “The white squirrel is in the tree hiding. I didn’t get a picture of it.”
Then he informed me, once again, that he was bored. I told him that boredom was an “opportunity for adventure” and that I was sure he would think of something to do and if not, he was welcome to fold laundry. He asked for my iPhone.
I passed him a basket of socks.
The morning went on and on like this, but eventually, he found markers and a coloring book and settled quietly in the family room. Later that afternoon while the boys were eating lunch, I slipped out the side door to arrange a creative art activity on the lawn.
Related: The Best Sand Toys for Kids
Enter Squirt Gun Painting
Squirt gun painting is a thrilling summer art experience for kids and is the ultimate boredom buster! For our paintings, we used Nerf Super Soaker Alphafire Blasters.
I like to avoid the super cheap multi-pack squirt guns typically found in dollar stores because they seem to end up breaking within hours. The Alphafires are still inexpensive, but have the quality one can expect from Nerf products.
If squirt guns aren’t your thing, use plastic spray bottles! They work just as well.
Materials Needed for Squirt Gun Painting
Squirt Gun Painting Directions
1. Arrange the easel in the yard, then clip two sheets of watercolor paper to each side.
2. Invite your kids to fill their squirt guns with liquid watercolors, then let them go to town painting!
Tip: No Easel? That’s okay! Kids can use a thumbtack to secure their paper to a tree.
3. Allow the paintings to dry in the grass. We found it helpful to weigh each one down with a rock so they wouldn’t blow away.
Each painting was bright, unique, and as beautiful as the child who made it. My son (the one who had complained of boredom that morning) spent the entire afternoon creating independently with this super easy art activity.
With a little cleanup and minimal direction from me, I call it a win!
We’ve now placed the squirt guns in a box where the kids can access them easily so the next time he comes to me saying “I’m bored,” I’ll point him towards the squirt guns!
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More Summer Art Ideas for Kids
Summer vacation is a great time to get crafty with kids! Click the images below to see more creative summer art ideas.
kristen says
I love this idea! Where do I find liquid watercolors?
Thanks!
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
Hi Kristen! They are linked in the post. I can only get them from Amazon…none of my local craft stores have them. 🙁
Terri says
So much fun! I did this years ago with my son and his friends, only we used fabric paint. One this we did that was fun is cut out shapes and letters out of freezer paper and ironed it on first. iron shiny side down. squirt away and when dry peel off the paper…voila!
Carleen Radanovich says
This would be great for those who would like to paint but have no talent & for people like myself who have a disease that makes it hard to hold pens,pencils, etc still. (I have MS). Can’t wait to try!
Heather says
I have MS too 🙂
Jen Warner says
I put my dried markers in plastic jars of water and they make great liquid water colors. It’s recycling at it’s best 🙂 I don’t know if they would work for everything that you use liquid water colors for, but I often use it as a substitute in my preschool class. It’s a great substitute for food coloring too.
Gerri says
Can I do this with watered down acrylic paints? I have a gazillion of them in different stages of drying out.
Gerri
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
Try it and see!
Sheri A. Ross says
Do you have a recipe for making Liquid Watercolor paints? I am organizing a fundraiser for Autism Art programs, and we would love to include the Squirt Gun painting project for this event….so making the paints is our best economical way to achieve that.
Appreciate any advice you may have,
Sheri
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
Many educators make homemade watercolors by soaking dried up markers in water. My friend, Jackie, over at Happy Hooligans has a tutorial: http://happyhooligans.ca/vibrant-homemade-liquid-watercolor-paint/
I hope that helps! Best wishes with your event! I’d love to see photographs when it’s over!
Diane says
Look nice, but messy.
meg says
do you dilute the liquid watercolor, or use straight from the bottle?
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
We used it straight from the bottle for extra vibrant color, but you could dilute if you wanted.
kathy says
why cant you just use water and food coloring?
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
No one said you can’t. Try and it see how it works!
pops says
Love this!!!!!!
Alicia says
How did you change colors?
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
My kids poured a different color paint into the squirt gun.
bjm says
Can I use fluorescent tempera paint? I have some extra laying around.
Fireflies and Mud Pies says
Likely, it will be too thick on it’s own. I would water it down so it’s thin and similar to the consistency of liquid watercolors.
Jody Hodges says
Thanks for inspiring all of us. I could see different bottles being used
Kristin says
This is such a great idea and it turned out SO cute! Want to try it with les kiddos!
Abel says
could this be used in a colored water gun fight?Trying to replicate the game splatoon for a birthday party.Is it hard to get off skin?
The Tie Dyed and Tattooed Mom says
OMG This is quite possibly the best idea of the summer. Kudos
Karly says
This is such a good idea! My daughter would love this! This is definitely one to try! On a dry day! Can I use your link on my blog and direct people here? It’s perfect to talk about for my crafts4thekiddies!
Mother of 3 says
We’re doing this today!
Melissa Lennig says
Awesome! Have fun!
Cindy deRosier says
I’m the Editor of Fun Family Crafts and wanted to let you know that we have featured your fun idea! If you have other kid-friendly craft tutorials, we’d love for you to submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can get one from the right sidebar of your post above. Thanks for a super project idea!
Janelostinideas says
This is a very cool idea! I tried this summer with my kids and they had a lot of fun and we all love the results.
I showed on my blog what we did with all those pictures.
Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Jane
Gretchen says
This works great on a waffle weave fabric white shower curtain that you hang on a fence. Got mine at Target. Takes a while to cover it all so that is nice! Let it dry and admire for a few days or wash it and do it again the next day. Very colorful and fun!!
Iantha Kruep says
I was wondering if you could squirt a shirt with Red and blue for 4th of July … Would it wash out
Melissa Lennig says
Hello,
When we squirt shirts, we like to use t-shirt dye (like the stuff for tie-dye) or diluted fabric paint. Here is more information: http://www.firefliesandmudpies.com/squirt-gun-tie-dye/
Have fun! 🙂
B says
Did this for my daoghters birthday and it was very messy. The paint was leaking out of the llsquirt guns to the point of not having any paint left in them. If you do this make sure to use the guns she suggests I’m guessing they don’t leak
Melissa Lennig says
Yes, the NERF guns don’t leak! You don’t want cheap dollar store guns for this activity.
Christin says
We are thinking of doing this for a rather large gathering of people! Do you know roughly how long each water color bottle lasted so we can order enough?
Melissa Lennig says
I don’t know how long they last, but to make them last longer, consider diluting the watercolors with water and picking up some squirt bottles to store them in. Also, I really recommend good squirt guns. Some cheap versions leak and will waste your watercolors.
Marc says
This looks like a lot of fun and my kids will love it. Thanks for the idea.
tib says
super cute idea 🙂