Here’s a fun and easy party activity for a kids’ art themed birthday party, or even a regular birthday party if your child and his or her friends like arts and crafts. It’s also a great group art activity for summer craft camp or a family gathering.
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Recently, Leah, one of my hooligan grads, turned 8 years old, and she had an “Amazing Race” birthday party. Her parents called me about a month before the party and asked if my house could be one of the stops on her Amazing Race route.
Heck yeah! I was completely honoured to be included in Leah’s big day.
Like many girls her age, Leah loves crafts, and because many of her early days were spent crafting and creating here in my daycare, her parents asked simply if the stop at my house could include a creative activity of some sort.
For toddlers and preschoolers, check out this fun birthday party activity.
They didn’t have any particular expectations in mind, and left the planning up to me. All they asked was that the girls be able to make something that they could take home with them.
They said that 9 girls would be stopping by my place: Leah and several of her 8 and 9 year old friends, and also two 5 year olds: Leah’s younger sister Sophie and a friend.
Tween Art Party!
I had a few weeks to think up my activity, and I must’ve come up with a dozen different craft ideas during that time. I wanted things to be open-ended so the girls wouldn’t have to follow detailed instructions while they were crafting, so I finally decided on a tween art party activity.
One trip to the dollar store was all it took to get the canvases and a few odds and ends for the art party. The rest of the supplies came from the drawers and cupboards in my craft room.
You may also like our pretend play paint palettes for toddlers and preschoolers.
What I love about an open-ended art activity like this is that you can use whatever supplies and mediums you want. I’m going to show you what we used, and how I set the craft area up. If you’re hosting an art party of your own, you can just use my list as inspiration to get you thinking.
Supplies for this art party activity:
For your convenience, I’ve provided affiliate links for some of the products.
Setting up the art area:
I set up 3 work tables (3 girls would be at each table), and a central bench which held the over-flow of supplies.
Your “tables” don’t have to be actual tables. I used an old trunk, a couple of coffee tables, and a bench. Just be sure to cover them with a drop cloths, sheets or plastic table cloths to protect them.
On each work table, I placed 3 canvases, a variety of brushes, a jar of water to rinse brushes in, an old towel or wash cloth to wipe brushes on, glue sticks, bottles of glue, and an ice cube tray filled with a variety of paint colours.
On the centre bench, I placed the glue guns (I had extension cords running to them), the artificial flowers, buttons, gems, painter’s tape etc.
Let the fun begin!
The girls began with the paint of course, and they could easily walk back and forth, from their work stations to the central table to get decorations and glue guns when they needed them.
I kept the paint bottles and a jug of water near-by to refill the ice cube trays and the rinse jars as needed.
It was so fun watching the girls as they created. Everyone had their own style, and expressed themselves uniquely on their canvases. It became obvious very quickly that no two pieces would be a like.
We had a self-portrait, a haunted house, flowers, name-art, bold blocks of colour and some beautiful, abstract pieces.
When they were finished creating, I took a picture of each artist holding her masterpiece.
That’s the birthday girl front and centre, and her younger sister to the left.
I love that each child’s artwork is unique and a true reflection of what the artist was feeling at the time that she created it.
Doesn’t the flower painting in the middle if the photo below look like a floral version of the artist herself? The colours of the frame and background match her shirt, and the flower petals match her hat. I’m not sure that was intentional, but it’s clear that the artist is fond of the colours she chose.
And each girl now has a unique piece of custom art-work to hang on her bedroom wall.
Our tween art party was a lot of fun! I definitely enjoyed myself as much as the girls did.
Thanks so much, Leah, for including me in your special day! xx
Cookies for an Art Party:
P.S. If you’re looking for a sweet treat to serve at your art party, check out these homemade paint pallets cookies by Arts & Crackers! They’re adorable and quite easy to make.
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
