Action Painted Umbrella Kids Art Activity

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This post was contributed by Jamie of Hand Made Kids Art.

A Jackson Pollock-Inspired Kids Art Activity!

Try a new art experience by adding color to an old umbrella with action painting. This fun kids art activity is inspired by the fine artist, Jackson Pollock. Jackson Pollock was an abstract expressionist painter that developed the style of painting called “action paintings”. Instead of applying brush strokes to the canvas he would drip, splatter and pour paint on the canvas.

Action painting is a great way to introduce children to open-ended process art experiences. Process art is an important developmental skill for children to explore how to make their own marks on the page – or in this case, an umbrella!

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Action Painted Umbrella Kids Art Activity

Materials:

Umbrella
Fabric Paint
Paper Cups
Paint Brush
Paint Smock
Drop Cloth (an old shower curtain or plastic tablecloth work well too)

Step 1: Prep the work space. We took this project outside to paint on the grass but you may wish to lay down a drop cloth as the fabric paint is permanent. To prep your paint, pre-pour the paint into paper cups. We added a splash of water to help it splatter better (but be sure to follow the directions for your fabric paint). We found light colors worked best on the dark colored umbrella. To protect our clothing, we used an old adult t-shirt as a paint smock.

Step 2: When you are ready to paint, demonstrate to your child how to flick the wrist to splatter the paint across the umbrella. Let your child have fun as there is no wrong way to do it. Let them try splattering, dripping or even pouring the paint. Let the paint dry according to the directions.