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Writer's pictureJesse Israel

How to Make Messy Marble Paintings with Kids

Updated: May 9

Let's dive into the wonderful world of messy marble painting! At Maker Studio Kidz, we're passionate about process art, and the journey of creating these marble paintings is something that you and your kids won’t want to miss. Bursting with color and unlimited possibilities, it's a fantastic avenue for children to unleash their creativity in an entirely new way.


And the best part? Everyone walks away with an abstract masterpiece that they’re proud of!


Messy Marble Painting for Kids

Whether with preschoolers in our after school classes or elementary-age kids in our summer camps, we’ve found marble painting to be an engaging activity that fosters essential skills like manual dexterity, balance, and even a basic understanding of color theory!


Kids love the active component of exploring different movements to achieve their desired look, and by combining colors without blending them into a muddy mess, get to observe how different colors look when placed next to each other.



Best of all, the setup for this project is super simple! Chances are, you already have all the materials you need right at home or in your classroom, making it easy to jump right into the fun.


So, grab those marbles and paints, and let's embark on a colorful adventure together!



Materials:


Materials for messy marble paintings

  • Paper

  • Tempera or Acrylic paint in several colors (Amazon)

  • Marbles (Amazon) 

  • A cardboard box or baking dish. The trick is that your container is tray-like, with sides low enough that your child can see over them, but high enough that a marble won’t bounce out. For this example, I used a small box used for holding holiday cards. 

  • Tape

  • Palette or paper plate


In progress marble painting and its colorful palette of paint

Instructions:

  1. Tape the piece of paper to the bottom of your box. 

  2. Pour paint onto your palette.

  3. Dip your marble into the paint, drop it onto your tray, and roll! For a fun twist, add more marbles into the mix!

  4. Remove the paper from the tray and peel off the tape. Now you have a gorgeous piece of abstract art!


A finished messy marble painting


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