5+ EPIC Water Balloon Painting Activities for Kids

Ready for an EPIC summer activity for kids? You MUST TRY Water Balloon Painting! These water balloon games are simple to set-up but so much fun. These water balloon activities get kids enjoying sunny days outside while still creating, using their imagination, and even cooling off. These fun water balloon games are perfect for toddler, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, and elementary age students!

Water Balloon Painting

Take your art projects outside for some summer fun with kids of all ages! These balloon painting projects are simple to create, but outrageously FUN! These fun paining ideas for kids are perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, and grade 4 students. Add this summer activity for preschoolers to your summer bucket list! SO pick up some water balloons, paint, and painting surface and get ready to create one-of-a-kind summer artwork outside!

Paint filled water balloons

With a 50/50 mixutre of water and tempera paint in water balloons you are ready to balloon paint. Drop or toss the balloon at your paper to make some cool splatter paint artwork! This is crazy fun and makes really cool effects on your paper.

TIP: Your artwork doens’t just have to be a big blob of colors. Use tape to make a simple shape like a heart, your name, sun, etc. When you finish, carefully pull off the paint and you will have the plain white spot in the midst of your color war =) This is one of our favorite summer art projects!

Balloon Painting

The simplest and probably least messy way to paint with balloons is by filling up balloons with air and dip the balloons in washable water color paint and make prints on your piece of paper. This balloon painting can be done inside or as an out side art project. You can use a giant roll of of butcher paper, large sheet on an easle, or a small printer paper. This toddler art project is more about the activity and having fun than producing any discernable picture. This air balloon painting is sheer fun!

Rainow Art Project for Toddlers

Draw an arched line for each color of the rainbow on a piece of paper. Now blow up a balloon for each color – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Using small balloons filled with air, children will dip the balloon in washable tempera paint to dap along an arched line to create blobs of color along the arch. Continue with other colors to make a pretty rainbow craft for toddlers.

Games to play with water balloons

This games to play with water balloons involves rolling balloons dipped in paint for a summer process art at its best! Children will put a large piece of paper at the bottom of a makeshift ramp which you can make out of board, sled, kickboard, etc that you cover with a garbage bag or newspaper to protect the surface. Now dip a small balloon filled with water in washable liquid paint and gently roll it down the ramp onto the paper. Continue painting by rolling until you have about half of the paper covered with paint. Allow your paper to dry completely. Use markers, crayons, or colored pencils to add in details to create something out of the patterns, shapes, figures you created.

This impressionis artwork allows kids to figure out what they see in the color / shapes they made and add details to bring out what they see for others. THis is a really fun early art project for preschoolers.

Paint Splatter Art

Children will love this engaging and active art project! Put a tablespoon or so of acryllic paint in a water balloon. FIll the rest of the way with air and tie off. Attach the balloon to a piece of white poster board or canvas with tape across the opening. Alternatively you can hold it there if you are making artwork with a sibling or friend.

HINT: We found it works best to have someone hold the balloon very wide open, then squirt in paint. Blow up the balloon medium full. Too little air and it doesn’t have the force to splatter. Please remember to wear safety equipment and use precautions to not get paint in your eye or inhale paint!

Continue filling different colored water balloons with paint and air then attaching to the balloon. You can have the balloons in just a row at the top, row at the top and the middle, or all over the poster board.

Now comes the fun part! Children will throw darts (or poke balloons with wood skewers) at the paper to pop the balloons and create a work of art! If you have a young child you can just give them a needle, pushpin, or scissors to pop each of the balloons to make their project. As with all projects involving paint, make sure to wear paint clothes, protect surrounding surfaces, protect children’s eyes, and watch children carefully with any sharp objects.

HINT: We found putting the paint side up worked best to spread the paint over the canvas instead of having the air thrust the balloons down and the paint remaining in the latex.

We made ours a couple different ways such as using just a couple of daughters favorite colors and about 20 balloons randomly taped on the canvas. My favorite was this family name project where we put painters tape to spell our last name. We went nuts popping about 40 balloons over the VERY large 30×40 canvas. THen we pulled off the painters tape to reveal our name. This was not only a fun summer activity for kids, but a lovely piece of artwork I will always treasure of our fun, playful childhood days!

Balloon Toss Painting

This is another option for a splatter painting project. You will need a large canvas. We used a 30×40, but you can use whatever size fits the wall space you have to hang it.

Push thumbtacks in the back of the canvas so that the pin side is out the front. We also used painters tape to make a resist painting of sort so it will look like a tree when we are done. You coudl also do a name, geometirc shapes, mondrian styel painting, flowers, etc.

Fill water balloons with a couple squirts (1-2 tablespoons) of washable tempera paint and the rest of the way with water; tie off the top and set in a bucket of water. Repeat until you have 20-30 paint waterballoons. YOu want them to be full enough so they will pop when you through them. My tip is use regualr balloons – not water balloon which are way to hard to fill. Have a friend hold the balloons open to get the paint inside then use a spray hose to fill till it is just large enough to hold in your hand and tie off.

Throw balloons at yoru canvas. The force plus the pushpins shoudl pope the balloon. WE had ours slightly elevate at the top so it “dained” down. YOu can try with different angles for different splatter effects.

Continue tossing balloons until you run out and/or you like the look of your canvas. Some of our earlier balloons were light on paint. Deffinetly stick with 1-2 tablespoons for a good saturated color!

In an outdoor space, have children throw balloons at the canvas to produce a beautiful splatter artwork. You can wear your swimsuit or a garbage bag with head and arm holes. Swim goggles are a good idea in case any of the paint splatters. And like always, make sure kids are supervised with the pins and paint and take care to protect any vaulale surfaces.

Let your work of art dry. Remove painters tape if you used it and hang your masterpiece inside!

Balloon Activities or Kids

Plus don’t miss these other fun balloon games and activities for kids to try this summer!

25+ Water Balloon Games for Kids
Learning the Notes on a Staff with a FUN Music Activity for Kids
EASY Static Electricity Balloon Experiment
Balloon Matching Shapes Worksheets – Kindergarten Math Activity
Water Balloon Experiment for FUN summer science
Educational Balloon Games
FUN Lego Ballon Car that is simple to make
Pop Rocks Balloon Experiment

Summer Fun

Looking for more outdoor activities for kids and things to do in the summer? Your toddler, preschool, pre k, kindergarten, and elementary age kids will love these fun ideas to keep them busy all summer long: