Sometimes the most simple art projects are the best. Actually, I think that’s pretty much always the case. I’ve been teaching art to kids for a long time and the simple projects, like tissue paper flower art and recycled rainbows are always great hits with the kids and with their parents. These circle paintings are a great way to explore new art materials and see how they work together. Keep reading to see the step by step tutorial on how to make circle paintings with 3-5 year olds.

*this post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Materials

watercolor paper, a circle to trace, oil pastels and watercolor paints.

Step 1.

Trace the circle with an oil pastel on your paper.

Step 2.

Use the oil pastels to make any kind of design in the circle. You can demonstrate all kinds of lines first, wiggly, straight, zig zag. You can talk about circles within circles. You can leave out any discussion and just see what happens.

Step 3.

Paint in the circle with watercolors. I really like this palette because it gives a lot of color options and is easy to travel with. The kids will begin to notice that the oil pastels repel the watercolor paints. I usually ask them what they notice and then make a joke that the oil pastels don’t like the watercolors and say “Hey, get off me watercolors. You can’t cover me!” The kids really get into it and remember how oil and water don’t like each other.

Step 4.

After the circle is painted the kids can cut it out. If this part is too hard, an adult can help. I like to teach kids to move the paper rather than their cutting hand. That really helps for beginning scissor users.

Step 5.

Mount the circle on a nice piece of foam core or card stock. Have your child sign their name in the corner like a professional artist and don’t forget to add the date to the back. It’s always nice to look back and see how old your child was when they created something. There you go, a great piece of art to frame and hang on your child’s wall. Thanks for having me over Hello, Wonderful. It’s always a pleasure to share simple art techniques for young children with you. Thanks for reading along. Meri

Meri Cherry, yes, that’s her real name, is an arts and crafts blogger at mericherry.com. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters. Meri works as an art teacher. She is passionate about the process of art, thrift stores, and the Reggio approach to learning.