Are you looking for a fun, creative, hands-on art activity? This spin art activity is a timeless favorite! We had a great time spinning and creating art. Best of all, there are add on activities and lessons. I am telling you folks, this exercise is the activity that keeps on giving! This activity uses a salad spinner, which kids seem to love using in any case.
Salad Spin Art Activity for Kids
My son was very curious about the salad spinner. I explained its use with cleaning greens (practical life, right?) and then explained how we were going to use the spinner to create art! His face lit up.
The only differences I made from the posts above were: 1) we used regular old Crayola kids paint and 2) we didn’t use a spoon and instead just flicked our wrists and, well, at times, dumped/poured the paint into the salad spinner. I liked the thickness of the paint and subsequent design; the result was different from watercolor.
Steps to Success – Art Activities for Preschoolers
- Get out your salad spinner
- Layout onto the bottom one or two coffee filters. I tore the filters to make them fit well.
- You and your child, or just your child, choose paints
- Flick, dump, pour. Whatever method you’d like!
- Place the cover on the salad spinner
- Spin and spin, fast and slow
- Gently take out the artwork and allow it to dry on the pavement in the sun or inside somewhere safe from little fingers (and big fingers in my case!)
- Hang in home
Additional Salad Spinner Learning
- Practical life – using a salad spinner and understanding what it is used for
- Fine motor skills – using the salad spinner by pumping the knob in the center, pressing the “stop” button and the “white” button to hold down the pump
- Talk about colors – primary and make new ones! My two year old kept repeating: “red and blue make purple!” Being able to see that transformation makes the lesson stick.
- Talk about opposites such as: “fast/slow, drip/pour, stop/go, wobbly/solid”
- Talk about the artwork. Ask your child what he or she sees in the image. My two year old saw a butterfly, a fish, and a sun.
- Use the paints and spinner as a building and balancing exercise (see photo above). My son started doing this activity on his own.
Art Activities for Kids
Have fun!
Marnie