Easiest 5 Minute Painting Craft for Kids in 2024
Finding fun crafts for your little ones is easy, but they’re not always fast or simple to do. One of the most quick and simple painting crafts I’ve done with my kids is Orbeez Painting! You merely roll Orbeez around in paint on paper. SO EASY!
Looking for other painting crafts? Check out our Apple Stamping activities perfect for fall!
Why use Orbeez/water beads?
I’ve seen people do similar painting activities using marbles, bouncy balls, etc., but I think water beads take the cake for the most fun!
Kids love them!
Seriously, what kid doesn’t like playing with a bunch of water beads? Water beads, or Orbeez, grow up to 100 times their original size when submerged in water. This in itself is an intriguing science experiment for curious minds!
After the “magic” of the Orbeez expansion, children LOVE to stick their hands into the smooth, slimy finished product. The experience is calming and sensory soothing for many kids (and adults).
Did I mention that Orbeez are bouncy? We all know that kids just can’t resist bouncing balls! There’s nothing quite like dumping a bowl of hundreds of water beads and watching them bounce!
We don’t so much love the clean up, but they do vacuum up fairly easily with a hose or shop vac.
Kids are sure to love taking this science experiment into the world of arts and crafts!
A clever way to reuse them
If you’re like me, you hate the thought of just wasting perfectly good water beads after making them.
There are other uses for water beads such as vase fillers, adding to plant soil or excess water absorption, and even DIY stress balls.
This alternative use of Orbeez is my favorite! It’s fun, colorful, and messy! Talk about the coolest way to make a painting!
What kind of paint to use for this craft?
Go to the paint aisle of a craft store and you can easily become overwhelmed with all of the different types of paints.
What is the best kind of paint to use for your Orbeez Painting Craft? The answer is below.
Watercolors
Cheap, easy to find, and simple to use, watercolors may seem like a top choice for a children’s painting activity.
This is not necessarily the case for this particular craft. Watercolors are thin and somewhat transparent.
They quickly soak into the paper, making it difficult to spread over an entire sheet.
If you use watercolors for your Orbeez painting craft, you may get some small, very light trails of paint on the paper, but not the long, deeply colored lines you are probably going for.
Trying to use watercolors for this activity would take much longer than a quick 5 minutes. You will likely need to continually use a paintbrush to reapply paint to the paper.
Watercolors dry fast, which is generally awesome, but with this craft you need the paint to stay wet for a while in order to spread the paint.
With these facts in mind, watercolors are obviously not the best choice for your Orbeez painting craft.
Acrylic
This type of paint is another favorite in the arts and crafts world, but is not as popular with kids.
Acrylic paints are generally permanent and not easily washable or removable. This is a disadvantage with kids.
Compared to watercolors, acrylics are much thicker and easily spreadable. Since they are thicker, the color shows deeper on the paper.
Water beads will roll nicely around on the paper and create long trails of paint. The finished product will be beautiful!
Acrylic paints are a solid choice for making an Orbeez painting craft. Although, I’m not a fan of it being somewhat difficult to clean up.
Oil
Oil based paints are even thicker than acrylics. The colors are bright and deep. However, these types of paints are more expensive than others.
I’m not an artist, and I do not know much about paints, but oil paints seem much more difficult to use than other types of paint.
Apparently, you have to prep or prime the paper for oil painting. This is definitely going to increase the time of this activity.
It is pretty clear that oil paints are not the top choice for a quick and easy Orbeez painting craft.
Tempera
Early childhood and elementary teachers are sure to have tempera paint in their classrooms.
Tempera paint is thick with rich colors, just like acrylic or oil paints, but it is much more washable than acrylics or oil.
This is especially true of brands dedicated to children’s arts and crafts, like Crayola. They are really great about making clean up as easy as possible for kids and parents.
Orbeez will glide and roll through tempera paint easily and make a beautiful painting. Tempera paint won’t take forever to dry, and the colors will remain vivid.
Tempera paint is easy for kids to use, and quick for parents to clean up. It’s a solid choice for your Orbeez painting craft.
The winner is: Tempera Paint! It’s the best for this kid’s painting craft.
My preference is tempera paint because of its ease of use, quick clean up, and vivid colors. It is sold at all craft stores and is reasonably priced.
Process of the Orbeez painting craft
This is seriously such an easy craft, as you will see in the steps below.
Materials
- Glass baking pan
- Painters tape
- Paper
- Paint
- Water beads (previously expanded)
Steps
- Lay the paper on the bottom of the glass baking pan.
- Tape the paper in place using the painters tape.
- Put a couple of handfuls of Orbeez water beads in the pan.
- Choose your paint colors.
- Pour a few drops of paint on the paper and/or the Orbeez.
- Holding either side of the baking pan, gently tilt the pan until the water beads start sliding through the paint.
- Continue tilting the pan in all directions, focusing on getting the water beads to roll through the paint.
- When the desired design has been made, dump the Orbeez in the trash and set the pan aside to dry.
- Once the paint is dry, gently remove the painters tape from the pan and paper.
Clean up
It is so easy to tidy up after doing this craft with your kids! The main part of the clean up is just to dump the painted Orbeez in the trash.
You will need to check your work area for any water bead escapees that made their way out of the pan. Then wipe up any paint that ended up on your work space.
After you remove the paper and tape, simply wash your glass baking pan like normal.
BOOM! Done in 5 minutes start to finish!
How to display your new painting craft
The easiest way to display your child’s Orbeez painting is to just stick it on the fridge with a magnet. Have your child help you find the perfect spot.
If you want to add a little more flair to your child’s artwork, you or your child can pick the best part of the painting and cut it out. Cutting it out into a fun shape makes it even more interesting.
Some examples of fun ways to cut out your Orbeez painting are:
- Heart
- Flower
- Star
- Cross
- Triangle
- Diamond
- Butterfly
- Rain drop
- Pumpkin
Another way to add an element of excitement to your work is to cut it out with decorative scissors.
After you cut out your shape, you can glue it onto cardstock, a board, or any other surface you want to display.
Picture frames are also a fresh way to display your Orbeez painting craft. Simply cut your painting to match the dimensions of your frame and place it inside just as you would a photo.
