Squish it
The sky through my window is grey and wintery this afternoon, but my tabletop is bright with colour. Squishing, squashing, blobbing, oozing… what magic can be done with a colourful blob of paint?
It starts with a blob or two…
Most children love things that are oozy and squishy, and the slippery texture of paint makes it ideal for some colourful and tactile fun. Creating images from a squishy blob of paint is great fun, plus it’s an inspired learning opportunity for kids: it allows them to experiment with colour mixing, explore shape making, and get introduced to the magic of symmetry. Most importantly, Squish Painting is fun…
You’ll need:
washable paint, acrylic or watercolour. Squeeze blobs from a tube, or dollop from a bottle (you might need to add water to get the ‘runniness’ just right)
paper (smallish pieces are fine, and sturdier paper is easy to manage when wet… big pieces can get a bit floppy)
Be prepared
Squish Painting is messy fun. Minimise the clean-up with some simple prep:
have a face-washer nearby for managing painty fingers
protect your workspace (cover with newspaper or a plastic cloth)
pop an art-smock on your little one (it’s a good habit for pre-schoolers to get into)
clear a flat space to lay paintings to dry.
Choose colours wisely
Hmmm… call me fussy but in this type of activity I avoid using colours that combine to make murky browns. My tip is to use all cool colours (think water and sky), or all warm colours (think fire and heat). It’s totally fine to limit the range of colours you offer to your child, two or three at a time works really well.
Try these combos:
red, yellow (they mix to make orange)
blue, yellow (they mix to make green)
red, blue (they mix to make purple)
The process
It’s pretty simple, and open-ended. Simply squeeze, drop or plop a few blobs of paint onto a piece of paper, then let the fun begin! You might try moving the paint around the surface using the following ideas:
squish between folded paper (tip: make your crease first, before you add the blobs)
squeeze between two layered pieces of paper
smoosh under your palm or fingers
squelch under clear plastic (such as cling wrap or a plastic pocket)
squash under bubble wrap
spread by rolling a toilet roll tube over the top
smear by scraping with the edge of a card
if you’re really mess adverse, you can even do the squishing within a plastic zip lock bag
Not only does Squish Painting let kids explore shape, colour and symmetry, it can also be a starting point for some very cool drawings. Once the colourful blobs are dry, offer pencils, pastels or textas and see what emerges. Chop painted blobs up for collaging, make them into greeting cards, or simply hang on the wall just as they are, to recall the simple joy that is squishing paint about!
Fingers are perfect for squishing paint.
Blobs onto paper, folded, makes magic butterflies.
Symmetry is magic!
Smear a blob with the edge of a card.
Roll a cardboard cylinder across the blob for a squishy experience.
