Fun Littles

Fun and easy kids activities

Glue Resist Art

Oct 5, 201331,038 views
Art Projects
Ages3–8 yrs
Prep15 min
Activity40 min
Leveleasy
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Kids draw designs with white glue from squeeze bottles and let them dry overnight. The next day they brush a light watercolor wash over the page, and the dried glue lines resist the paint and show through.

⚠️ Safety first

  • White glue and watercolors are art supplies, not food. Supervise young children so they don't mouth them.
  • If kids pick at drying glue with a toothpick, as the author's toddler did, supervise closely because the points are sharp.
  • Supervise art play at all times.

Before the kids arrive

  • Pour some white glue into squeeze bottles, one per child.
  • Plan two sessions: the glue designs need to dry, typically overnight, before painting.

Steps

  1. Give each child a squeeze bottle of glue and a white sheet of paper.

  2. Squeeze the glue to draw designs on the paper: lines, swirls, shapes or flowers.

  3. Let the glue dry, typically overnight, until it is hard.

  4. Next day, wet the watercolor blocks with a little water.

  5. Brush a very light wash of watercolor over the paper and the dried glue.

  6. Try different colors side by side and watch the glue lines show through.

  7. Paint a flower scene or any picture over your glue design.

  8. Let the painting dry and admire the pattern the glue made.

Tips

  • Squeeze bottles work much better than glue straight from the container. The flow is smoother and the glue comes out in a better fashion.from the author
  • Use a very light wash of watercolor to see the effect. Can you see how the glue appears through the watercolors? Beautiful!from the author
  • My 5 year old was excited to see the next day that the glue had dried hard and her pattern looked very interesting.from the author
  • My daughter adored the few paint spots that landed on the glue.from the author
  • Have a toddler who can't wait for the glue to dry? Ours painted right over the wet glue and still made art she called "the prettiest, prettiest."from the author

Make it your own

  • Draw a flower scene with the glue to try out the resist technique.
  • Experiment with contrasting and complementary colors over the dried glue.
  • Paint over wet glue for little ones who can't wait. The colors swirl into the glue instead of resisting it.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · October 2013
art glue
The kids drew designs with glue from squeeze bottles, and we let them dry overnight. With a very light wash of water color, the glue appears through. Beautiful!
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Glue Resist Art: the original post

Just like many kids out there, mine adore painting and all kinds of art activities. We have done plenty of art activities for kids in the past and recently we shared our spider web resist art- just in time for Halloween. Today we are sharing a fun new art activity which uses glue as the primary ingredient. Our goal is to make art activities for kids as open ended as possible to nurture the kids’ creativity and budding imagination. While following that golden rule we created beautiful pieces of art by simply using glue. Materials

  • White Glue
  • Water Colors
  • Squeeze Bottles

For this art activity I poured some white glue in squeeze bottles and handed over the bottles to the children. The squeeze bottles work much better than using the glue from the container itself. The flow is smoother and dispenses the glue in a better fashion. The kids simply drew designs with glue on a white sheet of paper. We let the designs dry ( typically overnight) The following day my 5 year old was excited to see that the glue had dried hard and the pattern she created the day before looks very interesting. Now armed with water colors we were ready to have fun with the resist art activity. We used regular water color blocks. I suggested that she use a very light wash of water color to see the effect. Can you see how the glue appears through the watercolors? Beautiful!

art glue

She experimented with different colors on the dried glue which is what she does with many art activities ( see this beautiful Epsom salt painting where we spent a great deal of time experimenting with contrasting and complementing colors)

glue art activity

The resisting glue created a intricate pattern.

glue art

Of course we had to draw a flower scene to try out the new glue resist technique

glue kids art

I did a couple of images to try out this fun technique.

flower glue art

My daughter adored the few paint spots on the glue.

resist flower glue

Ok this is what happens when you have a toddler around who just can’t wait for the glue to dry. I loved her glue resist art too and she kept repeating” Mine is the prettiest, prettiest” all while picking at the drying glue with a toothpick. Gotta love your almost 3 year olds.

art projects with glue

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What readers say

💬 2 comments 🍎 tried with 1 classes or groups

🍎 In the classroom

Preschool teacher plans to try it

A preschool worker called the technique amazing and simple and looks forward to using it with her preschool class.

“I look forward to using this technique in the preschool i work in. Amazing and simple”
Janet Prior, Apr 2021

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Read all 2 comments
  1. Janet Prior · Apr 2021

    I look forward to using this technique in the preschool i work in. Amazing and simple

  2. Mireia Torrent · Oct 2013

    Gracias, lo he compartido en pinterest. Saludos desde Spain.

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