Holi Art Project for Kids

Holi (pronounced “hoh-lee”) is a fun festival for young people that is celebrated widely in India to mark the first day of Spring. In India, Holi is celebrated by throwing colored powders on each other and dancing and frolicking around from dawn until dusk. Flower petals and rice may also be thrown, and water guns may be squirted as well. The goal? To get messy and enjoy life!

Here in North America, most people celebrate Holi privately in their home, unlike in India, where it is celebrated publicly on the street. We celebrated Holi in New Delhi before (read about it HERE) but I haven’t had a chance to celebrate it yet with my daughter. For this Holi celebration, I combined my two favorite things – celebrating festivals…and art!

I have developed this Holi-themed art project that can be done by kids (or adults!) of ALL ages. It can be done indoors or outdoors. If you are doing it indoors, you’ll need a plastic splash mat for the floor. If you’re doing it outdoors, you can just wash any traces of paint away with a water hose.

There are two parts to this process: the splash part, and then painting over it. Acrylic paint dries quite fast, so you can easily do it in one day. Most acrylic paint is also translucent and watery, so it won’t entirely cover the first layer.

Holi Art Project

You will need:

– medium to large canvas
– inexpensive turkey baster
– 3 colors of liquid acrylic paint
– 3 plastic bowls
– plastic splash mat (if you’re painting indoors)
– art smock
– paintbrush

Instructions:

PART 1:

Set up the canvas over a splash mat with 3 colors, each in plastic bowls to the side. (We did yellow, green, and blue).

Show your child how to squeeze the color into the turkey baster and put it on the canvas. Then let them go wild with it!

They can also use the baster to make shapes with the paint – like dots, lines, or circles.

Let your child decide when the painting is finished. Lay it down on a clear surface to dry.

PART 2: 

Clear off a table and set up the canvas with three additional paint colors to the side.

Instruct your child to use the paint to cover all the white areas on the canvas.

Let your child decide when the painting is finished. Lay it down on a clear surface to dry.

—–

I loved the way it turned out, it was very “Jackson Pollock meets Holi“!