Welcome to our list of the best hands on art projects for kids you can easily do at home or in the classroom. These are totally “do-able” art activities that use common art supplies. Of course, you can also do them anywhere, with scout groups, library programs, summer camps, and so many more places!

You will love these fun and simple art ideas that will develops kids’ creativity! Bonus, make sure to grab our free 7 days of printable art challenge ideas below too!

EASY ART PROJECTS FOR KIDS

Art projects for kids including 7 days of art challenge ideas.

HANDS ON ART ACTIVITIES

What are some good art projects? We love these art activities below for a few good reasons!

Easy art projects provide the perfect opportunity to connect with your kiddos, and they are suitable for children of all ages. Good art activities can be as much fun with your three-year-old (working together) as they can be with your 12-year-old (although a great independent project too)!

Do-able art ideas use common art supplies that make for inexpensive creative art on a budget! And great for home.

The best art projects for kids are both playful and engaging, each of these creative art activities below offer lots of learning opportunities.

Below you will find easy to set up art ideas that can be done in 15 to 30 minutes or longer if desired!

WHY DO ART WITH KIDS?

Children are naturally curious. They observe, explore, and imitate, trying to figure out how things work and how to control themselves and their environments. This freedom of exploration helps children form connections in their brain, it helps them learn—and it’s also fun!

Art is a natural activity to support this essential interaction with the world. Kids need the freedom to explore and experiment creatively.

Art allows children to practice a wide range of skills that are useful not only for life but also for learning. These include the aesthetic, scientific, interpersonal, and practical interactions that can be discovered through the senses, intellect, and emotions.

Making and appreciating art involves emotional and mental faculties!

Art, whether making it, learning about it, or simply looking at it – offers a wide range of important experiences. In other words, it’s good for them!

HOW DOES OUR FREE PRINTABLE ART CHALLENGE WORK?

My best advice is to take it day by day! Although there is not a specific order to the activities, one challenge has you taking pictures for a whole week.

Get started the first day and add a photo to it each day after that while completing the other art projects.

Also before you get started, determine which supplies you already have and which ones you still need. Many art supplies can be used interchangeably.

  • Print out the challenges!
  • Gather supplies!
  • Get started!

Tip: Do you have older kids who can help younger kids with these challenges? This is a great way for families to connect. Makes a great quiet time activity too!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR FREE 7 DAY ART CHALLENGE!

TOP 10 ART ACTIVITIES

If you only have time for one or two, or even three art projects, here’s our suggestions. These fun art activities for kids are our some of our most popular art project ideas of all time and have been done, again and again! You may even find some fun theme variations for a few of them.

COFFEE FILTER FLOWERS

Make beautiful art with simple household item! Explore the colorful world of science meets art with DIY coffee filter flowers. Why not also check out how to make a coffee filter rainbow!

Coffee Filter Flowers

POP ART

Learn about the Pop Art movement, pioneered by artists like Andy Warhol with this Earth Day Pop Art activity. Also try Easter Pop Art, and Pop Art Flowers!

Earth Day Pop Art

FLOUR PAINT

Make your own homemade paint with flour, one of our most popular paint recipes! Then grab some art paper or one of our printable templates and getting painting!

LOOK: 35 Easy Painting Ideas

Flour Paint

SALT PAINTING

Add salt and glue to a watercolor painting and watch the magic happen! Also check out our snowflake salt painting!

Salt Painting

PICASSO SNOWMAN

If famous artist Pablo Picasso painted a snowman what would it look like? This has to be one of the most fun snowman art activities for kids!

Check out these other fun art projects inspired by Picasso; Picasso Turkey. Picasso Pumpkin and Picasso Self Portrait.

Picasso Snowman

MARBLED EGGS

Make colorful dyed eggs for Easter! Learn how to make marbleized Easter eggs with oil and vinegar.  Also check out our fizzy dyed eggs.

Space Eggs

PUFFY PAINT

Puffy paint is easy to make yourself or better yet show your kiddos how to mix up this super simple puffy paint recipe.

Puffy Paint

SNOWY NIGHT PAINTING

This wintery snowy night painting inspired by Vincent Van Gogh is perfect for exploring mixed media art with kids. Also enjoy a starry night painting!

Snowy Night

SELF PORTRAIT IDEAS

Not one art project, but here you will find seven self portrait ideas for kids. Teach your kiddos to create their own self portrait for mixed media art for all ages. From a fun self portrait with LEGO or playdough to an abstract art project. Great for beginners too!

Self Portrait Ideas

WATERCOLOR GALAXY

Create your own watercolor galaxy art inspired by the beauty of our amazing Milky Way galaxy.

Watercolor Galaxy

MORE MUST TRY ART PROJECTS FOR KIDS

Feeling excited to start making art with your kiddos? I hope you are because here are even more creative art activities your kids will love. Click on the links or on the images below to get the full instructions for each art project.

FAMOUS ARTISTS

Learn from some of the most famous artists, and teach your kiddos to create their own masterpieces with our simple and do-able art projects. From Piet Monet, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock and more. We have over 20 famous artists for your kids to be inspired by!

Be inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat’s art, and create your own funky self-portraits with oil pastels or tape resist art technique.

Have some fun creating a face sculpture with a simple dough, inspired by a photo of Salvador Dali.

Have fun with a Frida Kahlo coloringFrida Kahlo leaf artFrida Kahlo collage, and Frida Kahlo winter art projects!

Frida’s Flowers

Create your own abstract art in the style of Hilma Af Klint.

Try this fun tulip art activity inspired by one of Yayoi Kusama’s well known paintings.

Make your own comic strip inspired Easter Bunny Art or Halloween Pop Art in the style of Roy Lichtenstein.

Create your own “drawing” with shapes inspired by Henri Matisse with these art projects; leaf artwinter birds collage or Christmas tree collage.

Explore abstract art from squares and rectangles, inspired by Piet Mondrian, with Mondrian buildingsMondrian Christmas ornamentsMondrian heart and Mondrian LEGO art projects.

Mondrian Art

Have a turn at creating your own Monet impressionist art with this Monet sunflower activity.

Create your own primitive winter art with Grandma Moses.

Paint a colorful landscape in the style of Bronwyn Bancroft.

Enjoy an owl art project, inspired by Kenojuak Ashevak’s Preening Owl.

Use the printable Mona Lisa to make your own mixed media art.

Have a turn at blending colors with pastels when you create Georgia O’Keeffe inspired flower artleaf art or poinsettia art!

Create your own fun cubist art inspired by Picasso with a Picasso Faces art project.

Create a fun and unique collage with a Lorna Simpson art project.

Go a bit crazy with a Jackson Pollock inspired splatter painting, crazy hair painting or marble painting.

Crazy Hair Painting

HANDPRINT ART

Make an unique and personalized piece of artwork with these easy handprint craft ideas.

Create a personalized handprint wreath with your kiddos that symbolizes diversity and hope in celebration of Black History Month.

Try this sun handprint craft for a simple summertime theme art activity.

Make a handprint collage with a group of handprints from your family or class for an unique piece of art.

Create this easy winter handprint art with simple materials.

Make a handprint keepsake to welcome in the new year with this fun and easy New Years handprint idea.

Or a Witch’s handprint broom for Halloween.

What’s nicer than a fresh bouquet of flowers? How about a homemade handprint flowers bouquet!

Handprint Art

PAINTING

Whether you have a kiddo who is a budding Picasso or just want to keep a little one busy for the afternoon with a non toxic paint, painting makes for a fantastic and sensory-rich art experience for kids of all ages!

Plus, you can even make your own paint with one of our homemade paint recipes. Better yet show your kiddos how to mix up their own paint.

Straws instead of paintbrushes? Absolutely with blow painting.

Or what about bubble painting!

Our tape resist snowflake painting is easy to set up and fun to do with kids.

Get STOMPING, stamping or printmaking with dinosaur painting that uses toy dinosaurs as paintbrushes.

Mess free painting in a bag with this leaf painting art activity. Also try apple painting in a bag!

Magnet painting is a fantastic way to explore magnetism and create a unique piece of art.

Take your art project outdoors the next time it rains! Its called rain painting!

Grab a handful of pinecones for a fantastic pinecone painting activity.

Dot painting is a great way to develop your child’s fine motor skills. Plus, it’s fun!

Turtle Dot Painting

Try water gun painting for an awesome water art project with easy materials.

String painting or pulled string art is easy to do with a few simple supplies. 

Have a go at sensory painting with this easy natural scented spice painting activity.

We love baking soda science experiments, now make fizzing art with baking soda painting!

Fizzy Paint Summer STEAM
Baking Soda Paint

PRESCHOOL ART

Preschool art is much more than making a mess and is also more rewarding than the normal preschool craft activities. Just like our science activities for preschoolers, our preschool art projects are totally do-able and use simple supplies. See them create their own personal masterpieces and experience a sense of wonder and accomplishment all at the same time! 

PROCESS ART

Process art focuses on the creative process rather than the final product or outcome. These type of art projects will be open ended, flexible and sometimes even a bit messy! Here are some of our favorite process art activities for developing creativity in kids.

Try fly swatter painting for a fun alternative to a paint brush.

Painting with marbles is a lot of fun.

Make colorful tie dye paper.

Pinecone painting is great for fall art.

Use a magnet to create a colorful artwork.

Try blow painting with straws or even bubble painting for a cool effect.

Create relaxing Zentangle patterns with one of our free printable templates.

Make funky 3D paper sculptures.

String painting is easy to do.

Try reverse coloring for a fun process art activity.

LEGO ART

Feel inspired and take your LEGO building time in a new direction with easy LEGO art projects. Yes, you really can use basic LEGO bricks you already have to experiment, imagine and create mess-free art. Plus, introduce kids to new art concepts in the process!

Create your own self-portrait from basic bricks.

Get arty with a fall inspired apple tree mosaic.

Build a monochromatic LEGO mosaic.

Have fun painting with LEGO.

Create Mondrian inspired abstract art with LEGO bricks.

Learn about symmetry as you build these symmetrical shapes.

STEAM ACTIVITIES

STEM + Art  = STEAM! When kids combine STEM and art, they can really explore their creative side from painting to sculpture! These easy art projects incorporate art and science for a truly fun experience. Great for preschoolers to elementary who may not be keen on art and crafts. 

Try this simple to set up water drop painting STEAM activity for kids.

Explore solubility with coffee filter flowers.

Simple physics creates this fun salad spinner art.

Make paper towel art.

Try baking soda painting for a fizzy chemical reaction.

What makes a glow in the dark jellyfish?

Explore shadows with Lego sun prints.

Make this fun marbled paper with oil.

ART PROJECTS BY TOPIC

FUN ART & CRAFT ACTIVITIES WITH A HOLIDAY THEME

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR FREE 7 DAY ART ACTIVITY CHALLENGE!