The following crafts for kids show them how to include texture in their art projects with simple materials such as paper, rice, sandpaper, scraps of fabric, cotton balls, and other items found around the house. These arts and crafts techniques allow children to add dimension to their projects. Use these how-to ideas over an entire project or to accent small sections.
Arts and Crafts Techniques with Paper
Glue many small paper circles close together to create a grainy texture. You can use photocopy paper, construction paper, gift wrap paper and even scrapbooking paper. You will start by making lots (and lots) of small paper dots with a paper punch. Speed up the process with a three-hole punch. A combination of light, medium, and dark shades of the same color adds another layer of texture. Use patterned paper for yet another look to this project.
Create a rough or bumpy texture by using randomly cut pieces of paper that you fit into a particular shape. For example, cut apart pieces of construction paper, magazine pages, or recycled gift wrap in a variety of shades of blue and then glue them on the paper to represent the ocean. Do the same thing with green to make a field or a lawn or brown to form tree trunks. The many different shades and patterns create lots of texture.
Another way to create a rough texture in art for kids is to use super-skinny strips of paper that you overlap, creating a cross-hatched texture. All of these texture activities for kids help them create the illusion of texture in their art.
Texture Art for Kids
Kids can go beyond paper crafts by using almost anything that they can find around the house to add texture to their art. Look for items that possess their own unique texture and cut small quantities of these materials to add as accents to a piece of art. Start by drawing your image with pencil and then turn the illustration into a three-dimensional arts and crafts project by adding textured items.
For example, if you have drawn a picture of an animal, you can emphasize its soft fur with scraps of fabric, cotton balls, or even plastic wrap laid over some wet paint (the paint will spread under the plastic wrap so you won’t get a sharp outline).
Make things like the ground, rocks, trees, etc look rough by cutting pieces of sandpaper, Velcro, or fabric to the shape of the items in your art project. For a chunkier texture, you can glue dried peas or beans, dried pasta, or bird seed to the paper.
For more delicate textures try gluing sand, kosher salt, rice, corn meal, or dried oatmeal to the artwork. Spread a small amount of glue to the page and then place or sprinkle the textured object. If you want to push pieces into a particular order, use a toothpick or a bamboo skewer so your fingers don’t get covered in glue.
Keep in mind that when you do textured arts and crafts projects that a thin piece of paper won’t hold up to being the background for your art. Use heavy watercolor paper or poster board to create a sturdier support for this art for kids. Remember that you can make one special part of your art stand out by adding texture to that focal point instead of covering the page with texture.
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