Outdoor Pointillism Art Activity for Kids

Outdoor Pointillism Art: For those detailed kids in our lives

She sat on the patio silent. Hot air around her. Birds and bees making the most of the silence and a rhythmic “tap tap tap” on the paper in front of her.

This blog post is a love letter to pointillism art and how it is consistently the most captivating and wonderful activity for my meticulous daughter.

RELATED: Looking for more big kids style activities? I have a whole bunch of them!

A child sits ready to use a q-tip in a pointillism activity

First, you have to explain pointillism in kid terms…

The first time we did pointillism, I sat my daughter (then 5) down in my lap and pulled out the old iphone.

I told her that today we’d be learning a new art technique called “pointillism” and asked her to repeat and try that word with me.

Heading off to the Museum of Modern Art wasn’t an option for us, so instead, we went to Google and looked at images of this technique.

A child starts to use a q-tip for pointillism

We talked about how the artists used a series of dots to created the images on the paintings, rather than the brush strokes we usually use.

We now do pointillism projects fairly regularly since this first introduction. It’s something that spoke to my daughter’s love of meticulous and detailed work.

We’ve done it in the kitchen.

We’ve done it for Christmas.

Today, we take it into nature for some outdoor pointillism.

A child paints a flower pink using pointillism

It’s an easy set-up for outdoor pointillism.

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A child paints a butterfly using pointillism

Time to start our activity: first up – mom art

I rolled out a huge piece of butcher paper for my daughter and started to draw the outline of items that I know I could draw and she could fill in.

For us, this was a butterfly, rainbow, flower and a unicorn because she’s 6 and that’s what 6-year-olds are into these days. Unicorns are all the rage.

On a plate next to her, I squirted out some paint and added a handful of q-tips as her “brushes.”

A child makes a rainbow using pointillism

If Q-Tips are a no-go at your house, try using the eraser end of a pencil.

As a reminder from last time, I showed her how to dab the paint with the Q-Tip and make pointillism-esque dots on her paper. I got the classic eye-roll and a solid “I know, Mom!” So I stepped back and let her take over.

I’m not trying to overstate things: this is an epic activity for her

This is always the quietest I feel like she ever gets. Her concentration on this style of art is beyond all expectations.

A child begins painting a unicorn during a pointillism activity

She was quite literally in the zone and the silence was incredible. She’s always loved meticulous activities (this animal line-up is a good example), so something like a pointillism art activity was bound to mesh with her personality.

That’s one of the joys of parenthood: starting to see their personality form and being able to find activities and hobbies that gel with it.