Painting with cars
Use toy cars to make colourful tracks and patterns with paint
A fun twist on painting that gets little vehicle lovers engaged in creative expression.
Instead of brushes, they’ll use the wheels of their toy cars to roll through paint and make tracks across paper.
This activity is great for exploring colours, textures, motion, and even sound - all while encouraging fine motor skills and creativity through play.
It can be as energetic or calm as you like- try racing cars down a slope for action-packed prints or go slow and steady to make detailed tyre marks.
You can also set up some soapy tub of water nearby as a "car wash" for an easier clean-up and bonus sensory play.
Materials
Prep
Step 1:
Lay out paper and secure it with tape if needed.
Step 2:
Pour paint into shallow trays - spread colours out for variety.
Step 3:
Set out toy cars and encourage your child to dip and drive. Or get them started by adding some blobs of paint to the paper to drive over.
Step 4:
Optionally set up a tub of soapy water nearby for a convenient "car wash"
Play
Step 1:
Dip the car wheels into paint.
Step 2:
Drive, roll, or race them across the paper to create tracks.
Step 3:
Mix it up - try using ramps, or switching cars to compare tyre prints.
Step 4:
Let the artwork dry, then hang it up or cut it into shapes for collages.
Extend
Ramp races: Place the paper at the bottom of a ramp and race paint-covered cars down for action art.
Vocal exercise: Encourage making sounds like the vroom of an engine as they play to develop speech patterns
Car wash station: Add a mini clean-up activity - soapy water, a towel, and a brush to wash the cars.
Car art collage: Cut up the finished tracks to make cards, shapes, or a collage.
Trace the road: Throw in some extra play-based learning by drawing shapes, numbers or letters for them to trace
