We did a spin art project with the Toddler Art Group yesterday. Thanks to Dana for sending me the idea! It was a fun project for the kids. By the way, I’m going to post an interview with her next week about teaching art to preschoolers and about sewing and creating with her three children.
We placed a 6 inch paper plate at the bottom of a salad spinner and squeezed blobs of 1-3 different colors of tempera paint onto the plate. Here Vivi’s squeezing red glitter paint onto her plate.
Then the kids spun the salad spinner…
And pulled out the finished spin art!
We used two different kinds of salad spinners. Here Henry’s pushing the button on the top to spin this one. Thanks to Bobbi for the photos!
Montessori Mama said
This looks like so much fun!
Great idea
Jennifer
aka Montessori Mama
Dayna said
What a clever idea…another good use for a salad spinner. Will have to give this a try.
Melissa A said
That looks like fun! We are going to try this.
Jody said
Great idea! Looks like so much fun!
outsidetheblue said
Oh cute! We’ll have to try that out.
MamaBird said
Um, Dayna, *another* good use for a salad spinner? Besides what? Washing lettuce or some other awesome art project?! Love this, we will be doin it!
The Artful Parent said
By the way, one of the salad spinners had holes in the bottom for draining water. It made quite a mess on the table, so just keep that in mind if you have a salad spinner with holes in the bottom. The paint will leak out, so make sure to do the project where that is okay.
Dayna said
MamaBird…fair enough
– I guess spinning salad or other such food stuffs may not be considered by most to be a “another” good use. Wish I was referring to another great art project! I did however come across some pics online of a family that spun their art in fall colors and then turned their art into turkey decorations.
Dayna said
Good news…I knew if I did a quick search I might be able to find another good use…how about a salad spinner Zoetrope check it out here: http://analyzer.depaul.edu/paperplate/Zoetrope.htm
missneek said
I came across your blog and I love it! I received a salad spinner when I got married 5.5 years ago and have not used it much (seemed like more trouble than it was worth.) I thought about getting rid of it just last month.
My daughter and I tried this project this evening. She had a great time and the results were cool. I posted some pics on my blog.
Keep the great ideas coming!
evenspor said
How hard was it to clean out the salad spinners when you were done?
The Artful Parent said
Not hard at all. Tempera paint washes off plastic easily. If the paint has dried you might want to soak it first though.
Emilie said
I love this idea, we have been trying it out and it works so well. It give great satisfaction to little kids whose drawing skills are not that great and still have a short concentration span!
Babyccino » Spin Art said
[...] am preparing myself for a cold summer so that I don’t get disappointed). I found this on the Artful Parent Blog and I loved [...]
haris ahmad said
nice idea and lovely kids. maybe not new but still interesting
Auntie Jo Jo said
I am planning a Spin Art Session for our Art Playgroup tomorrow, just a kind of dumb question…Did you reuse your salad spinner in the kitchen or keep it designated for art only????
Thanks, hope you are feeling well and no worries if you can’t respond. Thanks for your time and inspiration!!
The Artful Parent said
I’m so sorry I didn’t answer in time! We reused the salad spinner in the kitchen. The paint washes off completely.
Auntie Jo Jo said
Thanks for the answer!! I figured it was safe enough!
Toddler Time in the Studio « paintchips & cupcakes said
[...] the studio. First we decided to try a fun project/technique which I learned about from my favorite Art Blog. We did Spin Art. It’s basically an easy and fun project using Tempera Paint and a Salad [...]