Pointillism Art Activity for Kids

Pointillism Art: The Most Meticulous Activity for Kids… ever.

My kitchen was silent. Well, not quite silent. There was this almost rhythmic tapping and dot, dot, dot sound coming from a wordless 5 year old. She was deep into her pointillism art activity and the world had faded away around her.

This blog post is a love letter to pointillism art and how it captivated my almost kindergartener at exactly the right moment.

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How to explain pointillism in kid terms…

I sat my daughter (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” – she repeated the word with me.

It’s not quite the same as visiting the MOMA to see pointillism in real life, but we did the best we could with Google.

“It’s tiny dots. The who picture is painted with dots.”

This hit 100 on the cool factor for her.

RELATED: Are you thinking about kindergarten readiness? I know all about that big subjects (I was a K teacher!). I’d love to share my thoughts with you.

Time to start this pointillism art activity with a little Mom-drawing

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 eventually a frog (her pick).

On a plate, I squirted out some colors and added Q-Tips. Q-tips would be our pointillism tools.

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

I showed her how to dab the paint with the Q-Tip and make pointillism-esque dots on her paper.

I’m not trying to overstate things: this was epic for her

My daughter went silent. The room melted away and it was her and this 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 really meshed with her personality and interests.

She was absolutely hooked.

For 45 minutes she delicately painted using the tiniest dots and the surest hand. I was epic-ally proud of her.

The supplies we used – a pretty short list:

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• White butcher paper
• Washable tempera paint
• Q-tips
• Giant sharpie marker

Here’s a truth I will tell you. I don’t save a lot of my kids’ art. I just don’t.

I know from years of teaching how much art collects over time so I’m really selective about what I actually saved.

This was saved.

After it dried, I carefully rolled it up and tucked it away for memories in the future. This was such a beautiful 45 minutes in my daughter’s life and that may sound small, but it wasn’t to me.

I wanted to remember it.

Pointillism Art Activity: thank you for a great morning

Thank you, Q-Tips and Paint for such a lovely morning. For making painting something special and new again – for calming her body and quieting her mind.

If you have a child who loves quiet, fine motor skills, and simple activities – give pointillism a try.