This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Prang for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Ever since we went swimming with dolphins in St Kitt’s earlier this year, Ella has been obsessed with dolphins. So, I thought it would be fun to create a Dolphin Watercolor Resist Painting to add to her room decor.

Easy Watercolor Project for Kids

Ella and I will never say no to craft supplies, so we were pumped when Prang asked if they could send up some Prang art supplies  and included their super saturated watercolor paints.

I have a giant list of watercolor painting ideas that we are slowly working our way through and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make something extra special, like a pretty homemade watercolor tapestry.

This Watercolor Wall Art was super easy to create, and we had a lot of fun experimenting with it. We tried a few different methods of getting special effects with the watercolors, and we tried making them super pigmented and also washing them out a bit for a tie-dye effect.

You may notice (especially in our video) how vibrant and heavily pigmented the watercolors are, which is due to Prang using pure pigments, no wax fillers in their watercolors. We were able to water down the color where we wanted to, and keep it bright and vibrant where we wanted deep pigmentation. Kids love being able to create vibrant, bright pictures so I love being able to offer these.

The box the paints come in is sturdy but easy enough for my daughter to open, and is refillable. (It’s also nontoxic, so even the littlest painters can get in on the painting action!) If desired, you can also use the top tray of the box for mixing the paints.

And lest you think that I’m the only one getting free supplies – check out Prang’s website for how you can earn free supplies, like their awesome colored pencils, watercolors, crayons, paint, and more!

If you try this project, I really encourage you to have fun with it and be creative! The nice thing about watercolors is that if you end up not really loving your final design, you can always wash it out or paint over it!

We ended up really liking having a hyper-pigmented dolphin in the centre, faded tie-dye effect for the ocean, and then some glitter paint outlining the dolphin and giving it an almost starburst effect.

You could use this same method to create any watercolor tapestry, but if you’re interested in also making a dolphin pendant, I’ve included a free printable below for you to use for tracing the dolphin silhouette onto your fabric.

I love how this simple art project turned out and that it was super straightforward and easy for Ella to do independently and that she didn’t have to follow any rules in order to create a gorgeous final product. (I helped with tracing the dolphin with hot glue for this project, but if you have a cool touch hot glue gun and the kids are confident, they could easily do that step as well.)

Check out our quick video for how to make this watercolor tie dye banner with your kids, and then scroll down to grab your free printable instructions (and if you want the dolphin outline, grab that, too!):

Materials for Tie Dye Watercolor Tapestry

• Prang Watercolors
• Paint brushes
• Blank fabric banner
• Hot glue gun with glue
• Prang sparkly paint
• Cookie sheet
• Cooling rack
• Glass of water
• Dolphin silhouette printable

Tip: the watecolors are highly pigmented so practice on a cleaning rag first if you only have one banner.

How to Make a Watercolor Fabric Banner

Start off by printing off the shape/outline you want for the center of your watercolor tapestry.

Place the outline behind the banner and trace overtop with the hot glue gun.

Let the glue dry and then have your child paint the tapestry, as desired. Have fun experimenting with different watercolor painting techniques, mixing colors, etc. For our light tie dye effect, we sprayed the tapestry with water to help fade, being careful to avoid the dolphin so that it stayed highly pigmented.

You can also paint the tapestry down with water first and then add paint overtop for a tie-dye effect.

When the watercolor paint is dry, remove the dried glue from the fabric.

If you want a glitter effect like our banner, first trace over the outline of the object with glitter paint or glitter glue, and then use a flat brush to pull the paint out a bit from the shape to create a starburst effect.

Let dry completely before hanging.

Pin this easy watercolor project for kids:

Grab your free printable instructions for our easy watercolor banner project:

This watercolor banner project was a ton of fun to make and looks beautiful on the wall in my daughter’s room. 

For more easy art projects for kids, check out our Mermaid Suncatcher project or our Rainbow Roses Process Art Project.