Have a kid who loves to draw? Check out our NEW Drawing Skills Master Class!  Designed for kids 6-11 to gain skills and confidence.

How to Do Marble Painting

by Jean Van't Hul
January 8, 2023
1.2K Shares
painting with marbles featured

Marble painting for kids is an easy and fun action art activity! Kids have fun rolling paint-covered marbles on paper and the results are lovely abstract works of art.

Updated January 2023

Marble painting is one of our favorite kids art activities!

We’ve done it on our own as well as for playdates and larger toddler art groups. We’ve created individual-sized marble paintings and larger group marble paintings.

Kids Marble Painting
Photo by Jean Van’t Hul

It’s not painting marbles, but rather painting with marbles.

Here’s a video of marble painting in action. And be sure to keep scrolling for step by step instructions.

Marble painting for kids fits all of our criteria for a winning art activity:

  • The process is fun and open-ended
  • It’s easy to do
  • It’s the kind of activity that the kids want to do over and over again
  • Plus, the end result looks pretty great – a wonderfully abstract piece of art!
marble painting pin
Photo by Jean Van’t Hul

Marble Painting for Kids

This post contains affiliate links.

MATERIALS

  • Marbles
  • Tempera paint (but acrylic or Biocolors will work, too)
  • Muffin tin, egg carton, or small bowls to hold the paint
  • Spoons
  • Paper
  • Shallow cardboard box or a baking dish

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Prepare your materials

    First, prepare for marble painting by putting some paint in the muffin tin sections (or egg carton or small bowls). Protect your work surface with art mats or a tablecloth.

    Then place a sheet of paper in your shallow box or baking dish, and set out the marbles and spoons.

    Marble Painting for Kids

  2. Put your marbles in the paint

    Next, drop your marbles in the paint and mix them around a bit to coat them fully.

    Marble Painting for Kids

  3. Add paint-covered marbles to the paper

    Transfer your paint-covered marbles to the paper in the shallow box/dish.

    Marble Painting for Kids

  4. Roll your marbles around

    Now lift your shallow box and tilt it this way and that so the paint-covered marbles roll around and leave their little painty trails, creating interesting designs on the paper.

    marble rolling

    You can roll the paint covered marbles around the paper as little or as much as you like, depending on how you want your painting to look and how much you are enjoying the process.

If desired, you can add additional paint covered marbles and continue working on the artwork. Or start fresh with a new piece of paper!

Have you tried marble painting with your kids yet? If so, perhaps it’s time to give it another go. 

Kids Marble Painting
Photo by Jean Van’t Hul

More Painting Ideas for Kids

Pin It for Later

marble painting pinterest
How to Do Marble Painting

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

1.2K Shares
Print
Share
Pin1.2K