Watercolor Painting Basics for Kids

By Spramani Elaun

In this blog I’m sharing some basic advice to help get kids started with watercolor painting activities.

I’m going to list some watercolor basic art supplies you need to start.

Watercolor painting is perfect for preschool – elementary age kids.

I’ve spent a lot of time teaching kids of all ages, and I’ve come to learn watercolor painting is super easy to introduce to beginners.

The fun thing about watercolor painting is children don’t need to be good at painting realistic details to really enjoy the results of watercolor.

Kids get lost in watching colors magically wash into each other, they love the process.

It’s so much fun for children to learn watercolor painting!

I you find you want to learn more you can check out many of my painting blogs, or purchase my BOOKS and CURRICULUM, showing you everything you need to get your students painting areas set-up fo learning to paint.

Watercolor painting basic supplies:

Student grade watercolor paints in a variety of colors
Watercolor Paper (must be thick)
Paintbrushes (three sizes)
Water proof flat space to panit on

Watercolor Paints

Any watercolor paints will work, you can even water down tempera or acrylic paint as watercolor to get a watercolor soft effect.

Use only student grade safe paints with kids.

You can use liquid, or dry watercolor cakes, they come in both for kids.

Watercolor paint comes in many forms to choose from, even pencils and crayons come in watercolor!

First start off with a couple of colors.

Primary colors red, yellow and blue can mix into secondary colors like green, orange and purple.

Watercolor Paper

You’ll need thick watercolor paper, do not use any other types of thin paper. I sometimes use a thick pond paper if I can’t find watercolor paper. Something that wont rip easily. Basically you need paper that can absorb lots of water. Any grade of watercolor paper is fine for beginners. You can pick up watercolor paper at any craft store, art store, and even Walmart.

Buy Watercolor Paper HERE

Watercolor Paintbrushes

Do not spend too much money on brushes when first starting out, spending a couple of dollars on each brush is a good budget. I would only pick a few paintbrushes. One large one, a paintbrush that can do medium watercolor washes. And a very small one for smal details. Want to learn how to teach children to paint and what materials wok best? Take my Painting Key Lessons 101 video training great for homeschooling and primary grade teachers with no painting experience. Register HERE

Watercolor Paint Palettes

And finally, a white palette is helpful for holding paints and creating mixtures of colors.

Kids can see better before hand what their colors are going to look like inside the palette before painting onto their paper.

If you don’t have a palette, a white kithcen ceramic plate also works well.

Napkins

You will need napkins for drying and controlling wet washes, I would even recommend thick paper towels.

Water

Watercolor paintings should be watery the whole time! When watercolor painting, you will be constantly adding water to move pigments around. The water will be used a lot. A water jar for cleaning brushes out, and keeping brushes moist and wet while painting.

A Space To Watercolor Paint

Set kids up in an area that can withstand water splashes, or spills.

If your home is not that place, set up outdoors for watercolor painting .

Have a place ready where watercolor paintings can stay to dry flat.

Watercolor Painting Tips

Give kids opportunities to get familiar with translucent watercolor first before exploring techniques. Play around inside palettes.

It takes some time to control these washes.

The feel and look of watercolor paintings is transparent when it’s completely dry.

Try not to teach specific techniques first, kids need lots of experience playing with watercolor first. Just try to have fun with it.

After you gathered all these supplies it’s truly fun for kids to just explore and experiment, before teaching watercolor common techinques.

Then after some time kids can try these techniques out:

wet into wet watercolor painting (also know as wet on wet)
dry watercolor painting, wax resist watercolor painting
salt texture with watercolor.

If you want more advice on teaching kids painting check out my new book:

Kids Painting Curriculum, Order HERE

Kids Color Theory Curriculum

Kids Painting Book

View All Spramani’s Art Teaching Books HERE

Painting Key Lessons 101 Video Training

Warmly,

Spramani

Montessori Art – Why Teach Primary Color Mixing Curriculum

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