Are you looking for a fun, easy art project for your preschool dinosaur theme? Try this volcano blow art technique. It’s simple to set up, and it’s a fun way for young children to create unique artwork – without a paintbrush!
This art project was easy enough for my 4- and 5-year-olds to do with minimal guidance from me. (Even my 2-year-old was able to make a volcano scene, although her lungs aren’t quite strong enough to really blow the paint.)
For this project, you will need:
- brown construction paper
- white cardstock paper (or other thick paper that will hold up to a blob of paint)
- dinosaur silhouettes (click the image below to print)
- glue stick
- scissors
- drinking straw
- red or orange tempera paint
First, have your child cut out a volcano shape from the brown paper. He can draw the mountain with a pencil first, or just eyeball it, and then cut the top off to make a crater. You’ll also need to cut out the dinosaur silhouettes (this may require the help of an adult).
Next, glue the volcano shape to the bottom edge of the white paper and add the dinosaur stencils to make a prehistoric dinosaur scene.
Once everything is glued into place, with the paper lying flat on the table, help your child drip some red or orange tempera paint near the top of the volcano. You want a good-sized blob here. My children used spoons for pouring.
Now is the time to make your volcano explode! Have your child blow through the straw, directing the air toward the blob of paint. He can experiment with holding the straw at different angles for different effects. He can try blowing harder or softer through the straw, blowing in different directions, etc. Have fun with it! Add more paint as necessary to get the effect you want. You’ll want to keep blowing/spreading the paint until it will no longer drip down the page when tilted.
As the last step, you can add a few lava flows to your volcano by adding one more blob of paint at the crater and tilting the page to have it run down the mountainside.
Here’s another one:
