• SHOP PRODUCTS
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Laughing Kids Learn

Where learning is made fun

  • Disclosure and Privacy Policy

Squishy painting for kids that teaches symmetry

July 20, 2015 by Kate 6 Comments

Children love to ooze and squish things and so this type of painting is perfect for them, no matter what their age. It teaches them about basic symmetry and colour, while encouraging them to look at their paintings in detail.  So I give you a squishy painting for kids that teaches symmetry. 

Symmetry painting with kids is lots of fun and great for all ages.

With a giggle I’m warning you now, you’re going to need lots of paper for this one because your child will want to do this type to painting over and over and over again. It’s fabulous fun and has an exciting element of mystery. 

Recommended age: 2 years + 
(Active supervision is required on all my activities) 

you will need

Possum (aged 3.5 years) asked me if she could do some painting. We’d usually paint outdoors but the cold Winter, which we are currently experiencing where we live in Australia, has us doing more of our creating indoors. So this is a great and relatively mess free way of paint. 

You will need – 

  • Paper
  • Paint 
  • Spoon or brush
  • Drip tray

So to begin you will need to fold a piece of paper in half and open it again. This is a great opportunity to talk with your child about basic fractions and what the term ‘half’ means. Quick chance to expose them to new words and expand their language vocabulary, even at a young age. 

Painting with spoon and paint is a unique approach

So talk with your child about the colours you have for them to use. You might also like to talk to them about what colours they know from their environment ie. green is like the leaves outside. Great way for them to make connections with their own environment. 

Have your child add paint to one side of the sheet of paper. I had possible use a spoon for something different and also it ensured the paint applied was a good thickness for pressing. 

Folding paper with paint activity

Now for the extra fun part. Instruct your child to fold over the piece of paper so the two inside halves touch. 

pressing paint picture

…. and press to squish the paint. Kids love this part, as you can just imagine. 

Pressing paint to learn symmetry with kidsThen it’s time to peel back the paper to reveal the gorgeous symmetrical painting inside. So beautiful. 

Painting and squashing paint in this activity

Possum absolutely loved the mystery and anticipation that came with revealing the painting. You don’t know what it’s going to look like until you’ve gone through the process of adding and pressing the paint together. After a few paintings were completed I began to ask Possum what she expected each piece to look like before she revealed it. Her responses and justifications were interesting. 

Press painting with kids is lots of fun and easy to set up

We did this so many times, I can’t tell you! Hahahaha
orange symmetry painting with kids

I love how the colours are so vibrant and in some areas they mix together. 
pink symmetry painting

Some of the paintings started to look like butterflies or interesting insects. I’ve also seen these done where people have cut out the paintings and added eyes and other interesting features. 
Line of symmetry of painting activity for kids

Symmetry

The easiest form of symmetry for kids to understand is called reflection symmetry where two sides are identical. It also has a line of symmetry, which I’ve highlighted in the image above. 

Now Possum at aged three doesn’t really need to know about symmetry, even though this is the perfect activity to teach that, but it is something that I lightly mentioned to her. As a result she started to become quite interested in how one side was the same as the other because of her squishing efforts, so I’m glad I mentioned it to her. 

Pressing paint to learn symmetry with kids

This approach to painting is seriously so much fun for kids. Like I said, have lots of paper on standby because they will want to do pages and pages of these. The colours and shapes that are created are spectacular and it’s always a great mystery to what they will look like until the reveal at the end. 

Would your child enjoy this approach to painting?

Here are some other ideas I know you will love – 

Header-1        Make flubber recipe for kids the easy way.   Easy science experiment for kids that will teach them about colours and chemical reactions

Great value ebooks featuring Laughing Kids Learn
Zero to Two: Book of Play    Three to Five Playful Preschool ad

Follow Kate @ LaughingKidsLearn’s board Laughing Kids Learn on Pinterest.



Filed Under: 3 - 5 years, 5 - 10 years Tagged With: activity, colours, paint, painting, paper, preschooler, shapes, toddlers

Comments

  1. Kat - The Organised Housewife says

    July 20, 2015 at 12:36 pm

    Kate this looks like so much fun! And what beautiful art work from yoiur little girl.:)

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 20, 2015 at 10:45 pm

      Thank you Kat! I agree, they turned out so well! I’d love to do it on an extra large scale. I think that would be amazing. 🙂

      Reply
  2. juliya says

    September 7, 2015 at 3:46 am

    this is great but please tell what kind of paintings did you use?? Those are not watercolors, I can tell ^_^

    Reply
    • Kate says

      September 7, 2015 at 7:51 am

      Hi Juliya! I know this comes as a surprise, but I did actually use that exact Crayola product! They are not exactly watercolours but more water based paint so it’s easy to wash out of clothes etc. It is really as thick as it looks in the pictures. I hope you get a chance to purchase that product because it is really lovely to use, especially in that activity, and the colours are super bright and neon.
      Thanks for your message Juliya.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 27 Creative Printmaking Projects for Kids - The Art Curator for Kids says:
    August 17, 2015 at 9:10 pm

    […] Laughing Kids Learn made squishy paintings for kids that teach symmetry. […]

    Reply
  2. Welcoming Wednesday – 29/04/20 | Toucan Class Blog says:
    April 29, 2020 at 10:53 am

    […] Squishy painting for kids that teaches symmetry […]

    Reply

Please Leave a Comment: Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome
Hello and welcome!
My name is Kate and I am a mum to two little girls, Possum and Boo. We have lots of fun together learning with play at home and are pleased to share some of what we do with you.
Read my about page to find out more.

facebookpinteresttwitterinstagramgoogle plusyoutube

Search

Find More Great Ideas Here:

sesnory play
art and craft
nummeracy
literacy
Science
recipes
videos

Join the Tribe!

Subscribe



Find Activities by Age

  • 0 – 12 months
  • 1 – 3 years
  • 3 – 5 years
  • 5 – 10 years

Find Activities by Celebration

  • Christmas
  • SHOP PRODUCTS

Privacy Policy

  • Disclosure and Privacy Policy

Find posts by month

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in