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    Home » Painting Activities

    Modified: Jun 10, 2025 · Published: May 27, 2013 by Vicky · This post may contain affiliate links · 3 Comments

    Squirt Bottle Painting

    635 shares
    • 11

    We have been having so much fun discovering different ways to paint. You may recall we did some Slide Painting and Kids Window Art. Today we explore Squirt Bottle Painting. This is one of those summer activities for kids that are super easy to set up.

    Those condiment bottles that you probably already have at home can be used for painting.  Painting with condiment bottles is an outdoor activity, as it can get messy. Wear play clothes and get ready for fun!

    What a fun way to paint! Fill up some condiment bottles with paint and squeeze to create works of art.

    Supplies:

    • Condiment squirt bottles
    • Tempera paint
    • Easel paper
    • Large box
    paint, squirt bottles and easel paper

    Add some paint to your squirt bottles. I added one part water for every four parts paint. This will thin the paint and make it easier for it to flow through the bottles.

    Set up your easel paper on the ground. We did this on a pretty windy day, so we used some bottles to hold down our paper. Give the kids the squirt bottles and invite them to go crazy! My kids were really able to work collaboratively to create a beautiful work of art.

    Painting with squirt bottles
    Squirt bottle painting

    They noticed that where the colors had mixed, swirls were emerging.

    Squirt Painting for kids

    I love the swirled color effect and the kids got an impromptu lesson in color mixing.

    Color mixing swirls

    When we were done painting the easel paper, we still had lots of paint left over so we decided to paint in a large empty box.

    Painting with condiment bottles

    Once they squirted their paint, they tilted the box to see what would happen. They turned the box in many directions and were delighted to see the paint mixing and creating new colors.

    painting a box
    mixing colors

    Would you believe after all this we still had paint left in our squirt bottles? Guess I really filled those bad boys up!  Since we had such a great experience with Kids Window Art, we decided to take our squirt bottles filled with paint over to the window.

    Painting a window with squirt bottles

    This required more fine motor work on the part of the kids since the bottle wasn't turned completely over. They had to work hard, using two hands at times, to squeeze the paint out of the bottle.

    Kids painting

    They had so much fun watching the paint drip down the window. I had less fun cleaning the whole thing with a hose when they were done. Even so, I would say that this painting activity was a hit, much like this Slide Painting Activity.. It offered some lessons in color mixing and art with some fine motor work thrown in for good measure.

    window painting

    For more fun ways to paint check out:

    Slide Painting

    Kids Window Art

    More Painting Activities

    • Drip Painted Flower Pots
    • Earth Day Activity
    • Q-Tip Painted Snowman Craft
    • Watercolor Painted Seashells
      Watercolor Painted Seashells

    Comments

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      Recipe Rating




    1. EC says

      June 03, 2013 at 12:24 am

      Such a great idea! I have a stupid question - is tempera paint different than regular Crayola paint? (Pardon my ignorance! lol)

      Reply
    2. Becky says

      May 28, 2013 at 4:47 pm

      Oh my! How did you keep the kiddos so clean!? What fun. I think I'll add this to are fun to do list!

      Reply
    3. Melinda says

      May 28, 2013 at 1:12 am

      Looks like fun! I better write this one down.

      M 🙂

      Reply
    Vicky from Mess for Less

    I'm Vicky, the founder of Mess For Less, which I started in 2011 to share easy, family-friendly recipes. With over a decade of experience as a home chef and recipe developer, I love creating meals that bring people together. I also design play and learning activities for kids, using my background as a former teacher with a Master’s degree in education. Learn more about me.

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