These “paints” are taste safe, allowing younger kids to join in. Paint with ice cubes for practice using fine motor skills and for a fun colour mixing activity. It’s such a unique and creative process art activity!
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Helpful Tips:
What kind of paper do you use for ice painting?
Thicker paper like cardstock or poster board works best because it can absorb more water. Regular printer paper can work, but it will get soggy and will likely end up ripping as you paint. The paper will also wrinkle and warp as it dries. Watercolor paper is another great choice for ice painting because it’s meant to absorb water. If you do use watercolor paper, be aware that the paint colours blend together a lot more on this paper, compared to the cardstock.
What colours of paint ice cubes can you make?
Try using different amounts of food colouring for different shades of paint. For example, 1 drop of red for a light red and 3 drops of red for a darker red. We used both regular food colouring and neon food colouring. You can also make some of the following colour combinations. Add an extra drop of either colour to make it the more dominant shade:
1 drop of red, 2 drops of yellow to make orange 2 drops of yellow, 1 drop of blue to make green 1 drop of blue, 1 drop of neon green to make a teal colour 1 drop of blue, 1 drop of red to make purple 2 drops of neon pink, 1 drop of neon blue to make a different shade of purple
What drawings can I make with ice painting?
The best thing about ice painting is that it’s process art and you can draw whatever you’d like! Ice painting is all about exploring a fun and unique artistic medium, not the final painting. We had fun drawing a rainbow, flowers, and other shapes, like hearts and stars. You can draw lines to see what colours each ice cube makes. Practice writing letters and words, or simply do some colour mixing. Whatever you end up drawing, it’s so much fun!
This ice cube paint runs smoothly over the paper, and it’s so much fun to paint with! Use simple supplies to make a super cool (literally!) ice painting, and then let the ice melt in the sink for easy clean up. So cool!
Here’s even more kids art ideas:
Tape Resist Art
Bubble Painting
Q-Tip Flower Painting
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
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