Everything is just cuter in miniature, including paintings! Your little artists will love mini paintings: process art activity for kids for all ages.
Mini paintings: process art activity is where it’s at
You know how sometimes you revisit places you went to as a child, and certain parts look much smaller than you remember?
You get there and think, “This is it? I used to think this was the size of a football field?”
Sometimes, a whole piece of paper might look like nothing to you, but to a preschooler, it’s enormous.
Enter, itsy bitsy paintings.
Related: Our directed draw sets are also ADORABLE when drawn on small paper. 🤩
Less is more with mini paintings: process art activity
There’s something extra precious about teeny, tiny art.
When doing these with a class of 14 preschoolers, I set out at least 100 tiny paper squares to begin because it’s always a hit.
And for this one, sit down and join your kids if you can, too. You’ll be delighted to see just how creative you can be on a tiny canvas.
Looking for more painting activities? Check out these beauties:
- Paint Popsicles – Friends Art Lab
- Ice Painting Summer Activity – Busy Toddler
- Styrofoam Printing with Kids – Art Bar Blog
Materials
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- White paper – any kind of paper
- Paint – any kind of paint
- Q-Tips or paintbrushes
- Scissors or paper cutter – I have had this paper cutter for years, and it’s one of my most used supplies ever
Directions
No matter what size paper you begin with, cut it down into small squares.
The papers are cut to 3″ x 3″ in the photos shown here.
Next, set out paint and Q-Tips or paintbrushes and invite your little artists to create masterpieces.
That’s all there is to it.
How to extend mini paintings for a whole week in a classroom/at home
In the preschool classroom, we will set up this type of activity for a whole week straight.
But kids might lose interest if we keep all the materials exactly the same, so we make small changes so that it looks and feels fresh every day.
A sample mini paintings week in our class:
- Monday: 3” x 3” papers
- Tuesday: 3″ x 3″ papers (same as Monday)
- Wednesday: 2″ x 2″ papers (the kids will shriek with excitement)
- Thursday: 1″ x 1″ papers (kids lose their minds)
- Friday: A mix of sizes from anything left over during the week
Alternatively, you could leave the paper the same size for the whole week and change the art supplies instead.
Simply changing the size of the paper keeps kids interested, creative, and engaged.
What do children learn from process art?
The good stuff.
The magic in this activity comes from the freedom to explore the materials + the challenge to create in a limited space.
In preschool, most of the time kids paint and create on pieces of paper somewhere between the size of copy paper and easel-sized paper. They’re big. They’ve done it a million times.
But once your canvas is minimized, you introduce a whole host of problem-solving skills.
In this activity, kids are freely exploring, creating, and discovering their artistic abilities.
It’s a beautiful thing.
FAQ
Honestly, ANY! Use any of your favorite paints.
Any! From littles to bigs, this activity is a hit.
Not at all. You can use Q-Tips, toothbrushes, paintbrushes, fingers, etc.
You’ve got to try mini paintings: process art activity
Because it’s so easy to set up, there’s no reason not to give it a whirl.
If you don’t have paint, you can easily substitute it with crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc.
We can’t wait to see what you make!
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