Tree Ring Paintings for Kids

Looking for a less-mess painting project for kids? Try this magical tree ring painting!

Marker painting is pure magic.

This is hands-down my favorite painting technique to use with little artists.

It not only is non-messy, but is a way to make painting accessible for most children at home. Many kids don’t have access to paint and brushes at home, but they do have access to washable markers and a q-tip.

Here’s how we used this amazing art technique to create colorful tree ring paintings.

Supplies:

  • Heavy drawing paper (water color paper works best)
  • Permanent marker
  • Washable marker
  • Paintbrush
  • Dish of plain water
  • Placemat (optional, but recommended)

Directions:

  1. Use a permanent marker to draw three wobbly circles onto your heavy paper. These will be your tree stumps.
  2. Draw a small circular shape in the center of each tree stump.
  3. Working from the inside to the outside of your stump, draw rings around the center circle.
  4. To add interest, you can add texture or pattern to the outer ring of each stump.
  5. Trace over each ring of your stump with washable marker. It works best to limit yourself to using just a few colors per stump. It is very important to only draw lines, rather than fully coloring it in.
  6. Dip a paintbrush into water and apply the water to your washable marker in a controlled way. The water will transform the marker into paint. A little bit of water goes a long way!

Looking for other projects that use the marker painting technique? Check out these other art projects for kids:

Happy Creating!

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