Create Unique Paintings with Kids and Teens

Nov 29, 2011
Susan Caplan

Make Art with Kids and Teens - Photo by Susan Caplan McCarthy

Turn ugly or boring paintings and prints found at thrift stores, yard sales, and even your attic into one-of-a-kind arts and crafts creations.

Some kids and teens can find it intimidating to stare at a blank piece of paper and try to decide what to draw or paint. However, you can embellish existing artwork that no one wants and turn it into paintings that are much more fun to decorate your room with.

Where to Find Art for Kids’ Crafts

Look at yard sales and thrift stores for inexpensive framed paintings, prints, and photographs that you think look horrible. You can also rummage around your attic or basement for things that your family doesn’t want. Remember, you are going to dramatically change the appearance of the artwork by painting over it. However, you still want something that you’d enjoy hanging in your room or giving to someone as a gift.

Find something in the painting that you or the gift recipient enjoy. For example, if your father loves sailboats a painting with a sailboat is a good place to start. If you like animals or flowers or old cars, look for art that contains those components.

Arts and Crafts Materials

To alter the original paintings or photographs, you will use acrylic paint.
Use paint brushes, sponge applicators, palette knives, and even squirt bottles to apply paint (the techniques you use will determine the tools you will use to apply paint).
Painter’s tape allows you to protect areas that you don’t want to paint.
Additional details such as yarn, sticks, blocks, tiny toys, etc can be applied with good permanent glue; see below for ideas.

Art Techniques for Kids and Teens

Carefully remove the artwork from the frame.
If the artwork is dusty or moldy, you will want to start by cleaning it. Test a small corner and wipe with a barely damp rag so you can see if the art will get damaged by cleaning it. You should at least use a clean, dry brush to clean off dust.
If you want to keep part of the artwork in its original form you will mask it with painter’s tape. Cut pieces of the tape and lightly apply over the art. If you are working with a print or a photograph, check in a small corner to determine if the paper will peel away when you lift the tape (in which case you won’t use the painter’s tape).
Look at the original artwork and decide which of the following techniques you want to try. Of course, you can create your own technique.

Paint the Main Element of the Picture – Paint over the key part of the image, be it an animal or a person. Have a little bit of fun and paint that yellow lab puppy purple to match your room. Paint Halloween masks and costumes over the face and bodies of children.

Black and White – Cover the key image with painter’s tape. Then, paint the background in stark black and white, which will wipe out details. Remove the painter’s tape.

Paint the Background – If you like the main image but think the background is boring, cover the parts you like with painter’s tape. Paint the background as desired.

Paint over Everything – Think of this as a paint-by-number project … only without the numbers. Dip your brush in a light, medium, and dark version of a color and then paint over the image. (To make a light color, add white to the main or medium hue and add black to the main color to make the lowlight colors.) By having three versions of the same color on your brush you don’t have to worry about adding shadows and highlights, the paint on the brush will do the work. You can turn a realistic image into something abstract.

Kids and teens can salvage old paintings that no one wants by embellishing the images with paint. Remember to repaint the frame. Have a bit more fun by gluing small toys, bits of fabric or yarn, or other decorative elements to the frame or to the painting itself to add an interesting dimension.