Squeeze Painting

Have you ever done a gluing project with toddlers and wondered why they continue to squeeze glue from the bottle until they've just about emptied it out? Young children need to squeeze! Squeezing is an important fine motor skill that is also very entertaining. One way to offer this activity to kids is through squeeze painting.
I purchased empty squeeze bottles at an art supply store, but you can also use empty bottles from glue, soap, ketchup, etc.
To make the paint, I mixed flour, water, salt, and a little tempera paint to get a consistency like thick batter. I covered the table with cardboard so they could use the entire surface to squeeze out their design.


I realized that this paste would work great for paper mache- so for the older class, I offered them bowls and newspaper and showed them how they could cover the bowls with the strips of paper to make a sculpture.
My original squeeze bottles were a little tough for the children to use, so I brought out various glue bottles to add to the squeeze painting.
Jacob tries to squeeze the glitter glue into the larger bottle.

Rogan offers Liam the glitter glue.
By the third class, I had found some squeeze bottles from the Container Store that were much easier to use. Richie squeezes the paint onto the truck wheel to see what kind of tracks it makes.
Lucia begins to work on making a cupcake.
As the older kids work on their paper mache sculptures, Jason decides to squeeze all of his paint into the bowl to make a cake.
Of course, the other children realize that making a cake sounds much more fun than a paper mache sculpture!
After a while of squeezing, I offered the children bowls of colored sand to sprinkle on their paintings. Kirsten decides to squeeze the glue into the bowl of sand.
The children loved scooping the sand onto the table and mixing it around.


Anna, Jordan, and Jessica add the sand to their cakes.
Jason uses glitter glue to make a cake decoration.
Eventually, everything made it to the table- paper strips, paints, brushes, cars, horses...
As the children began to move around the studio, they explored various activities. Kirsten makes a print on the acrylic easel.
Kate creates a crayon drawing.
Rogan checks out the materials on the shelf.
Our new student, Mariana, discovers the easel.
Richie and Lucia found the toddler scissors (which cut only paper) and practiced their scissor skills.
Mariana decided to glue a collage, so I brought out the bin of collage materials- which was exciting for everyone!
The mound of materials in front of Lucia is her finished cupcake :)
Jason, Michael, and Karuna gather more materials for their cakes.
At the end of class, the cakes were finished... just in time for Jessica's Birthday. Happy Birthday Jessica!