Ideas For Kid’s Pottery Painting

Excavations have revealed beautiful sculptures and artifacts from ancient civilizations. The painting designs and carvings found reflect the rich culture and heritage of the era. For instance, pottery from the Franchthi Cave Excavations showcases beautiful pottery made in the Neolithic age dating back to 6000 BC. Pottery, ancient or contemporary gives a warm touch to the décor of the room. Similar to ancient artifacts discovered, painting designs on pottery tell a mystical tale of the artist. In today’s day and age, pottery painting is not an art limited to adult artistic expression but is also a fun activity for children. It makes a good party idea and at the end of the day, you have a valuable, handmade souvenir. It is one of the best creative outlets for children to express their imagination and talents. Pottery painting for children can be done on readymade pots. The usual variety found is the red clay pots available in most garden or home stores. While organizing a pottery painting activity for kids, remember that there are no rules. They can use whatever colors, mediums, techniques, or materials. You may think it may result in a mess, but an original pottery painting design is one that is free flowing and no other method can match for its originality. Pottery painting need not necessarily be limited to pots it can be done on other clay items too such as plates, bowls, cups, candleholders, vases, etc. A few ideas of pottery painting for children are mentioned below.

Pottery Painting Ideas For Kids

Make stencils beforehand for children to use. Stencils are paper cutouts of shapes and design that have to be placed on the surface to be painted. Once paint is applied over the surface, the cutout is removed and the design is clearly formed. Stenciling is a nice way to get a neat and uniform design.
Hand painting on plates is another fun way to customize an artistic piece, which can be done by using hands as a stencil. Children can spray paint a plate to get a custom design. The inside then can be painted accordingly.
You can use pictures to paste on the surface and the background or extension of the picture can be painted. You could go a step further and teach children to use plaster-of-paris to raise a particular part of the picture and slits to give a raised effect. For instance, if the picture is of a rose, the major part of the plaster will be places in the center of the design and the slits will be made at the petal edges to give it layered look. The stems and leaves can be painted to give a better finish.
Another idea is to use masking tape before painting so that once the design is complete; the masking tape can be removed to create contemporary, disruptive lines of creativity. This works well when painting is been done on a set.
Pottery painting need not necessarily be done with brushes, other mediums such as sponges, cloth, stamps and other items can be used to create unique designs.

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