Easy Balloon Painting Ideas for Kids

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If you are looking for a new art project for kids to try, I recommend balloon painting! We had so much fun with this art activity and I am excited to share it with you. The materials are really simple, and kids will love this new way of painting.

After a birthday party, we had some balloons left in the house. My kids really wanted to paint, so we decided to use the balloons to paint with! 

These balloon painting ideas will not only create some beautiful art, it is also a great sensory activity for children.

Using balloons to paint will be a new experience for most children and it is a great opportunity to learn as they create.

balloon painting

Once you’ve tried your balloon painting, hang onto your paint for another fun and creative painting experience with these beautiful Bubble Paint Flowers.

Materials for Balloon Painting

One of the things that I love about balloon painting is that you only need a few simple materials. You can easily do the activity at home, or in a classroom. It can get a bit messy, but that’s common of some of the best, and most memorable art projects!

  • Paint
  • Balloons
  • Paper
  • Tray to Hold the Balloons (while doing the activity).

Setup

Start by blowing up a variety of balloons. It works well if you blow them up to different sizes so that you have some smaller balloons and larger ones. This way children can make different sizes of prints.

For younger children, smaller balloons are idea so that they can easily hold them.

balloon painting
balloon painting

Another thing that I tried when I did this at home, was to have a balloon the same color as each color of paint that I put out.

It was a way to try and control the colors getting mixed. It did work for awhile, but then my kids wanted to try color mixing, so the balloons all ended up being pretty covered in lots of colors.

Although this is a really simple idea, it is also a great sensory experience. Kids will love the feel of stamping and leaving a print with the balloons. It feels interesting for to push the squishy balloon onto the paper and feel it stick when you pull the balloon off the page.

I used a large tray with sides on it for the children to place the (paint covered) balloons in after painting. The balloons can roll away and create quite a mess otherwise.

I also recommend paper towels to have on hand. Both for clean up and because we ended up wiping down the balloons sometimes to start clean with a new color.

balloon painting

For the paint, you can pour a blob of paint onto a painting try, or simply a sheet of wax or parchment paper. I used a long strip of wax paper and put a variety of colors out for children to stamp with.

Balloon Painting Activity Ideas

Start by giving children a sheet of paper and the balloons for them to use. Children held where the knot was in the balloon and pressed the balloon into the blob of paint they wanted to start with.

Press the balloon with the paint onto the paper. If you press hard, you will get a large circle, depending on the size of the balloon. Of if you just dab the balloon only a small print will show up. My kids loved playing around with the sizes.

balloon painting

Keep switching balloons and paint colors to create beautiful pictures. Beyond the great art that the kids created, they simply loved the fact that they had made it with a balloon.

balloon painting

My kids loved experimenting with various colors and playing around with the different prints that they could make.

balloon painting

Once kids have created lots of circle prints of solid colors, you can switch it up a bit and start experimenting with some color mixing.

You can press a balloon into different colors of paint and then press it down onto paper so that the different colors mix and blend together. This creates a beautiful circle! 

balloon painting

Once children have mixed colors and created lots of colorful stamps, they can even consider what their colorful circles can become. My children started creating prints with intentions of turning them into planets and solar systems.

They created flowers and faces. The possibilities are endless and once the art is dry, you can use markers and other art supplies to add onto the paintings to create something even more beautiful.

balloon painting
balloon painting

balloon painting

Balloon Painting Extension Ideas

At home, once my kids had finished their balloon painting, they wanted to use paint brushes to add details to their prints. It ended up being a great art activity that lasted hours.

To me, activities like this are what art is all about.  Using materials, such as paint, that children regularly use, but showing them new, creative ways to use them. Using different materials, like balloons, to make something beautiful.

Balloon painting is also a great activity to use to celebrate a birthday or any celebration. The balloons add an exciting extra element beyond regular painting that kids will love.

balloon painting
balloon painting

The activity is also a great sensory experience. Kids love to paint, so giving them the opportunity to paint in a different way, with balloons instead of paint brushes, creates a whole new experience.

Although for the most part, children created circles and stamped the balloons, some children ended up trying to paint with the balloons and using the balloon almost as a paintbrush.

Although this was to the intention, I love the idea of children exploring the materials and trying out different things and it did create some interesting streaks and designs.

balloon painting

Once dry, the paintings make a beautiful background for cards, and other drawings.

Balloon painting is an easy, and exciting sensory experience and art activity for kids of all ages. 

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More Hands-On Teaching Ideas

If you enjoyed the balloon paint art activity and are looking for more activities and ideas to do in the classroom, or at home with kids, below are some of my favourite and most popular learning activities.

From science experiments, quiet books and clay animals craft ideas to escape rooms and printables, there are lots of things to keep kids busy and learning. Click image for activity description.

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