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Home / Early Learning / Art and Crafts / Snow Painting With Water Balloons for Outdoor Art

Snow Painting With Water Balloons for Outdoor Art

Shared by Mary Catherine Leave a comment

Learn how to use water balloons for a super fun snow painting activity. Perfect as part of your planned winter activities for preschoolers, or as an impromptu snowy surprise.

Filled water balloons, water colors, and painted snow with text that reads water balloon snow painting

Related: Winter Process Art

Oh, this activity is just chock full of awesomeness. If I do so say, myself!

Tons of snowy fun? ✔
Process art? ✔
Open-ended messy play? ✔
Exploring science through art? ✔

As you can see, there is so much goodness packed into what is, inherently, a very simple activity. That’s a win in my book!

Table of Contents

  • Snow Painting
    • Water Balloon Painting Materials
    • Getting the Water Balloons Ready
    • Snow Painting Fun with Water Balloons
    • Clean Up Tips
  • More Snow Painting Ideas
  • Done-For-You Preschool Resources

Snow Painting

If you live where it snows, this is a wonderful process art activity to keep in your back pocket.

Grab the supplies ahead of time and keep them at the ready for your next snowfall. Then grab the kids and get everything ready to go. It won’t take too long.

Food coloring and bag of unfilled pink balloons

Water Balloon Painting Materials

You just need a few supplies for this snow painting activity:

  • Water balloons
  • Food coloring (you can also use liquid watercolors)
  • Water
  • Bucket or pan

And that’s really it! You can test out if you prefer water balloons or regular balloons for this activity. That’s really up to personal preference, as well as the age of the kids you work with.

Getting the Water Balloons Ready

Before we jump into the snow painting directions, I do want to touch on the use of food coloring. Just keep in mind that clothes and other items can get stained if you’re not careful.

I suggest wearing play clothes when you’re filling up the water balloons. This way, any splashes or spills are less likely to cause you problems!

Okay, now onto getting the water balloons ready for some snow painting fun!

  1. First, squirt a few drops of food coloring into a water balloon.
  2. Then place the balloon over the water faucet spout. Make sure you keep it secure – don’t let go!
  3. Slowly turn the water on. Again, make sure to keep ahold of the balloon.
  4. Fill the water balloon about halfway up with water. Do not overfill!
  5. Turn the water off and gently remove the balloon from the faucet.
  6. Finally, carefully tie the balloon and set it aside.
Pan of filled balloons ready for snow painting

Repeat those steps for each of the water balloons you’d like to fill. Be sure to switch up colors! Of course, if you and the kids prefer a monochromatic look, that’s okay too.

Place all of the filled balloons in a pan or a bucket for safe transport outside.

Snow Painting Fun with Water Balloons

Now that you’ve got the water balloons all ready to go, it’s time for some snowy art fun.

Take the bucket of colorful water balloons outside. Before letting the kids get their hands on the balloons, be sure to explain your expectations.

For example, the snow painting water balloons are just for painting the snow. This means the balloons are only thrown at the snow (as opposed to buildings or other people).

Splat of pink paint in the snow

Related: Catapult Painting

You’ll also want to show the children how to toss the balloons up and AWAY from themselves. Depending on the ages of your students, you can practice this with some beanbags or balls ahead of time.

Once the children understand what to do, let them play and paint in the snow.

Child inspecting pink and orange snow splat painting

Encourage the children to experiment with different ways to create with the water balloons. What happens when they toss the balloons higher into the air? What about if they throw the balloons farther across the yard? Does the height of the person impact the size/shape of the resulting splat?

The colorful results of kids' painting in the snow with water balloons

You can even break out a step ladder like we did with our (non-snowy) splat art. I’d only suggest doing this if you have a safe place and sturdy surface to set up the ladder.

Observe and assist the children as they’re snow painting with the balloons. You’ll definitely hear a lot of giggles and see some enthusiastic artists. There might be some thoughtful questions and a few, “What if we try this . . .?”

Pink, blue, and orange snow painting

Related: Melting Snowman Science Activity

If you and the kids try this out, be sure to let me know how your snow painting endeavors go!

Clean Up Tips

We can’t touch on a messy art activity without talking cleanup, can we?

Preparation is key of course. So wearing play clothes and teaching the kids to throw the water balloons away from themselves and others is a great place to start.

Once all of the water balloons have been depleted, encourage the kids to go gather the balloon pieces. You don’t want any stray animals to ingest them after the fun is done.

Children viewing their snow painting

You can definitely make this into a game! “How many pieces can you pick up in 1 minute?” “You find all the pink pieces, and I’ll grab all the green pieces.”

As the snow melts, the water should melt away most of the colorful mess. You can hose things down a bit if you need to, once the weather is a little bit warmer.

More Snow Painting Ideas

If your students loved the water balloon snow painting activity, I bet they’ll get a kick out these ideas, too:

  • Make your own snow paint by mixing liquid watercolors or food coloring with water in condiment squeeze bottles. Let the kids draw and write in the snow.
  • Pour your snow paint into spray bottles. The kids can spray paint in the snow!
  • Use your homemade snow paint to paint creatures built out of snow.
  • Break out some cookie cutters and paint for some snow art.
  • Incorporate the snow INTO paint for the children to create with.
  • Bring the snow inside for some sensory art.

What are some of your favorite snow painting activities?

Done-For-You Preschool Resources

I know just how hard it can be to juggle ALL of the responsibilities that come with teaching preschool. And that’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in. We create full and comprehensive lesson plans, activity packs, digital games, and much more!

Learn more about our super-fun snowflakes lesson plans!

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Snowflakes Lesson Plans
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While you’re there, make sure to put your name on our waiting list to join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101. We have three membership options to choose from, all of which will grant you access to current and new products!

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10 Little Snowflakes Winter Song & Math Pack
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Winter Lesson Plans
cover image for snowman lesson plans for preschool
Snowman Lesson Plans
Colorful splats in the snow with text that reads snow painting with water balloons

Filed Under: Art and Crafts Tagged With: snow, Winter

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My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

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