Painting with marshmallows is a great process art activity to add to your camping activities for preschoolers and kindergarten kids.
I love that this marshmallow painting activity uses non-traditional implements, mainly because that makes it super engaging for the children! Kids seem to get a kick out of painting without paintbrushes, and what a great way to explore different art techniques. Plus, it gets the children thinking outside of the box.
You can very easily adapt this marshmallow art idea for a wide variety of thematic units, holidays, and seasons. Which makes it a year-round art project to try with the kids.
Related: Art Projects for Kids
My students and I first came up with this years ago during a camping theme, and the kids the preschoolers fell in love with it. Honestly, this marshmallow art activity went over even better than I thought it would! So many smiles and giggles along the way.
In the ensuing years, I can say this sentiment still holds true! There’s just something so fun about painting with giant marshmallows. Give it a try with your students and let me know how it goes!
Painting with Marshmallows
I’m not sure why the children’s interest surprised me back then. It’s always fun to explore a new art “tool”, especially when it’s something out-of-the-norm.
Over the years, my students have painted with a variety of non-traditional items. And each time an unusual tool is used, the kids have such a great time with it.
How to Prep the Marshmallow Painting Activity
Start out by grabbing the materials you’ll need for painting with marshmallows. I’m sure you can easily figure out the materials we used for this little art project! But, just in case, here they are (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):
- Large marshmallows
- Candy or lollipop sticks
- Washable tempera paint
- White paper
Oh, and if you’d rather not use real marshmallows, I found these foam marshmallows that might work. I haven’t given them a try yet, though.
Once you have your supplies ready to go, it’s time to prep the marshmallow art fun. Place some paint into small plastic cups, paper plates, or reusable containers. We chose campfire colors – red, orange, and yellow. Red and yellow would work very well on their own, too, since they create orange!
Related: Camping Art Projects
Then place the lollipop sticks into your marshmallows. We had some huge ones leftover from a camping treat we’d made earlier, and they worked so well. Finally, set out the paper and call the children over to create!
Directions for Painting with Marshmallows
This is definitely an open-ended, process art activity. Meaning that the children get to decide how to use the materials to create their marshmallow art. I love watching as the children used marshmallows to paint! It’s such fun to see how individual kids use the items.
Some children stamped the marshmallows all over the paper, while some stamped them all in a line. The most popular “technique”, though, was swirling the marshmallows around the construction paper.
The end results were mostly swirls of yellow, orange, and red paint mixed together. When looked at, it didn’t seem like much. However, this is called process art for a reason! The children got a ton of enjoyment, and learning, out of of this painting activity. It wasn’t at all about the end result, and I am completely fine with that!
Let me tell you, putting the sticks into the marshmallows really helped! Not only did it involve less cleanup afterwards, but it gave the kiddos more control over their painting.
Have you ever tried painting with marshmallows or other “unusual” painting tools? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comment section below. Be sure to save this post for future reference. If you have a Camping Theme Pinterest board, that’s a great place to start.
Why Let Kids Paint with Marshmallows?
In case you’re wondering “What’s the point of painting with marshmallows?” I’ve got you covered! To begin with, it’s fun. And planning fun activities just for the fun of it is something I can easily get behind!
In addition to that, it lets the children practice some important early learning skills, such as:
- Creativity
- Problem solving
- Color identification
- Fine motor development
- Color theory
- Cause and effect
You can even use the marshmallow art masterpieces as a jumping off point for some early writing. Ask your students to dictate a story about their marshmallow painting experience. Or work together to write a story about it individually, in small groups, or as a class.
More Marshmallow Activities for Kids
If the painting with marshmallows activity was a hit, here are a few more ideas to try with the kids:
Camping Dramatic Play
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Click on the image below for our camping dramatic play set. Engage your students’ imaginations with our ideas and printables!
You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Originally published May 2013.
Ok, this is just brilliant! I LOVE it, and you know what? I had a WHOLE BAG of those jumbo marshies, and I threw them in the composter because they’d gone stale! Rats!
So glad you liked it, Jackie!! Simple, but soooo much fun to be had with this activity. Aw, don’t you just hate it when you throw away something like that? Honestly, I’ve taken to keeping stale food for sensory activities and random craft projects. That sounds weird, but it works for me! Let me know if you and the hooligans try out marshmallow painting. 🙂
Oh this looks like so much fun! I love giving the kids new painting “tools” but never in a million years would I have thought to use marshmallows! We will definitely have to try this.
Thanks, Ann! When Mary Poppins and I were planning for camping week, we knew we wanted to try something different for art. I think it was the bag of huge marshmallows on our back counter that prompted the idea! Thank goodness Mary Poppins is used to my random suggestions (like, “hey, let’s paint with marshmallows!”) Plus, she and I knew the kids would love it. Let me know if you try it out!
I think a camping theme sounds like so much fun! When we did our M is for Marshmallow theme we painted with the small marshmallows and the kids only did the stamping technique. I love the idea of using big marshmallows, and I wonder if it would encourage mine to try out the swirling that your kids enjoyed so much.
The camping theme was definitely a lot of fun, Shaunna! 🙂 I’ll have to share bits and pieces from the rest of the theme soon. Yes, for some reason the larger marshmallows made the kids want to swirl the paint around. Let me know how it goes if you try out the larger marshmallows for painting! 🙂
I do love this. My little one hates fingerpainting so we tried this recently too with great success. He also loved painting with pom poms gripped by clothes pegs!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Yes, I think having the sticks definitely help kiddos who don’t enjoy getting their hands messy when painting. 🙂
Love this! My daughter adores marshmallows, so we’ll have to try this out before our next s’more session!
Yay! So glad to hear that. Be sure to let me know how it goes when you try it with your daughter. 🙂
I love this idea! Certainly something we will do this Summer. 🙂
Thanks, Jessica! Let me know how it goes if you paint with marshmallows! 🙂
my kids would totally eat them before they’d ever touch the paint LOL
Hahahaha! Yeah, we’d fed the kiddos a special camping treat prior to the art project. I think that’s the only reason the kiddos didn’t try. 🙂
This is absolutely amazing!! What a phenomenal idea MC!! I will definitely be doing this! Just shared to Facebook also. 🙂
Awww, thanks so much, Blayne!! 🙂 I appreciate the comment and the share. And you better let me know how it goes when K tries it. 🙂
Love your blog! New follower!
Thanks so much Cathy!
Thanks Shaunna! Yes, the kids really enjoyed painting with those giant marshmallows! Surprisingly, none of them were taste-tested prior to painting! 🙂 I am so excited — thank you for featuring this!
Just found your site, I love all that I have seen so far. During R week, we paint with matchbox or the like racecars. The kids love the tire tracks. It is a really fun activity!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Teresa! 🙂 Painting with cars is a ton of fun, too — I love seeing the different items kiddos can use to paint and create with.