This art project is good for kids 4 and above.

If you been following our blog, you would have noticed that we have been sharing quite a few easy art projects for kids. When taking up art projects for kids, easy really is the key.  You just need a few supplies for this one but be  prepared to be amazed with your kid. Suminagashi art is an ancient Japanese technique for marbling paper using ink. It actually originated in China but has been practiced by the Japanese ever since. Sumingashi just means “floating ink” However, in this art project for kids we are using paints to create a similar effect. If you prefer to use an original store bought marbling kit, visit the following link. [box title=”Things we used” color=”#333333″]

• Thinned oil paints
• Shallow pan with water
• Medicine dropper/spoons
• Straws (optional)
• Thick paper

[/box] I used Reeves brand oil color. From my experience the quality of the patterns seems to differ brand to brand. I used two brands and found Reeves to be better. First I thinned out my oil paints in small clear cups.I used acrylic brush cleaning solvent to thin out the paints. Ths step is important because the consistency of the oil paint in tubes will not be appropriate for this art project. A solvent is needed to thin them out. With the paints in clear cups, shallow water in a pan, medicine dropper nearby and a thick paper ( we used drawing paper) I invited my pre schooler to experience this phenomenal art project.

It is better not to reuse the pan ( for cooking) you use for this art project. Anyway my fabulous housekeeping skills are quite evident from the above image of my  greasy glass pan. Yeah that pan was on its way out and we used it for our project. My older started off with dropping yellow, blue and red. As soon as the paint hits the water it starts to create a fantastic pattern.

To create even more dramatic patterns, we blew air through straws and even stirred the water with the straw.

Once satisfied with the patterns created, we floated a thick paper on the pan. As the colors starts transferring, flip it up gently and reveal the awesomeness.

Tada! Oil paint patterns transferred.

Of course we did not stop with one. Art projects for kids are meant to be repeated over and again until the kid tires out right?

We added more colors to this one and stirred with a straw vigorously until all the colors started blending.

Our own marbleized paper

Here is the line up of our patterns  created with gentle air blowing and not-so-gentle stirring

It was beautiful to see varying degrees of mixing creating unique patterns.

To extend this art project, you can decorate each paper with embellishments, turn them into cards by cutting out shapes or my favorite turn them into a book and store them as a nice keepsake for the time you spent creating with your child.

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Below you will see some supplies needed for this art project along with other kinds of paint which will come in handy while creating with kids.

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