Summer Art for Toddlers Bubbling with Fun & Imagination

The adventures of summer ignite the senses: icy popsicles on a hot afternoon, sand silkily sliding between your toes, watermelon juice dripping down your chin, and bubbles bursting with sparkling pops. And we, as parents and teachers, can also bring about these nostalgic sensations in our summer art for toddlers. With just a few simple materials, you can ignite your preschoolers’ senses with creative projects all summer. Check out these summer art projects for preschoolers!

Summer art projects for preschoolers include painting with ice process art, sandcastle art project, watermelon craft, and painting with bubbles.

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Summer Lesson Plans

Summer Weekly Lesson Plans for Preschool

Painting with Ice

Summer Process Art

I just made something unexpected.

 

Did you know frozen watercolors first feel like coloring with crayons and then melt into paint?

 

This sensation is entirely new to me! And it’s definitely new to our toddlers.

 

Experimenting with different mediums in art extends creativity through various sensory experiences. So, let’s ditch the crayons (especially because frozen watercolors feel the same) and give our preschoolers something unexpected in the art center.

 

Not only is painting with ice a cool (pun intended) way to experiment with your summer art for toddlers, but the little popsicle sticks in the paint just scream summer.

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Sandcastle Painting

Summer Art for Toddlers

Sand silkily seeping between my toes is one of those nostalgic summer sensations. And my family (even though we’re in landlocked Colorado) still gets to experience this every summer at Lake McConaughy.

 

But there are ways to experience the sensations of sand even through art.

How about making sandcastles with well, colored sand?!?

🌊 Paint the blue ocean background on watercolor paper.⁣

🏰 Glue on castle pieces (I precut the castles, rectangles, and wavy sand pieces from thin recyclable boxes.)⁣

🏖 Add glue and pour on some colored sand to bedazzle your art. ⁣

Don’t have colored sand? Use regular sand or dye some salt!⁣

Such a beautiful way to ignite the senses through a summer art project!⁣

Materials:

Watermelon Craft

Summer Art Project for Preschoolers

Summer is watermelon juice dripping down my chin, seeing how far we can spit seeds into the smoldering sunset. 

 

This means summer art projects wouldn’t be complete without a watermelon craft!

 

And it’s as easy to set up as having watermelon for dessert: just grab paper plates, hues of red and green tissue paper, watermelon seeds or dried black beans, and glue.

 

Then, your toddlers are set to create their very own slice of watermelon.

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Summer Directed Drawings

Step-by-Step Drawings

The summer heat is pressing in, which means our downtime occurs in the air conditioning (when we’re not at the pool).

 

And while most of the time, my girls can entertain themselves with games and imagination, sometimes you just need a go-to activity to give them something to do.

 

And that go-to activity for us is our directed drawings binder

 

The directed drawings bundle includes both pages that the kiddos can draw on directly or posters, my new personal favorite. The posters are just printed and placed in a binder, so when my girls are ready to draw, so am I! No running to the printer to get those copies!

 

And for our summer directed drawings, we drew beach balls, watermelon, and ice cream cones (and yes, eyes make everything cuter). 


Want to make this art activity even better? Give each child a sketch pad notebook to start collecting their drawings as a keepsake (also so you can stop finding loose papers all over the place).

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Painting with bubbles

Summer Process Art

I couldn’t get paper fast enough to keep up with my bubbling artists.

 

That can only mean one thing: success!

 

For this bubble process art activity, if you want those giant, popping bubbles that are the epitome of summer, use bubble solution mixed with liquid watercolor or food dye. Then, head outside.

 

Warning: Do not attempt this art activity indoors unless you enjoy scrubbing watercolor bubbles off floors, walls, carpets, etc.

 

Then, dip your bubble wands in the colored bubbles and blow directly onto your watercolor paper. As the bubbles pop, they leave behind a burst of color in a magical bubble painting.

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The next time you’re looking for fun and easy summer activities to keep your toddler entertained, try some summer art for toddlers that help ignite summer sensations. Painting with frozen watercolors, painting with bubbles, and don’t forget the classic watermelon craft or directed drawings using summer objects like watermelon and beach balls. With such simple materials, you can have hours of fun creating beautiful works of art with your little ones this summer. What are you waiting for? Get started now!

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