# Watercolor Painted Wood Slices > Kids draw circles or lines on wood slices, then paint them with watercolors in light, blendable layers. The dried 'wood cookies' make colorful displays or stackable props for pretend play. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/art-activities-kids-painting-wood-cookies-watercolors/ - Ages: 3–8 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium - Time: prep 10 min, activity 45 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class - Skills: fine-motor, color-mixing, color-theory, measurement, pretend-play, storytelling ## Materials (one batch) - 1 piece Wood slices, large (at least 3 inch diameter) - Wood slices, small (optional) - 1 piece Watercolor paint set (cakes) - 1 piece Paint brushes - 1 piece Pencils (household) - 1 piece Drawing compass (optional) - 1 piece Cup of water for rinsing and wetting brushes (household) - 1 piece Old cloth or towel to cover the table (optional) (household) - 1 piece Color wheel (optional) ## Substitutions - Instead of watercolors: Liquid watercolors (The author's usual favorite for exploring vibrant color. This time the younger child preferred watercolor cakes.) - Instead of watercolors: Acrylic paint (Would have been great too, but less light, airy and blendable than watercolors.) ## Safety - Drawing compasses have a sharp point. An adult should hand them out and supervise; younger kids can draw lines with a pencil instead. - Check wood slices for rough edges, splinters or loose bark before handing them out. - The small wood slices are small enough to be a choking hazard for children who still mouth objects. Supervise closely. - Watercolors are for painting, not tasting. Wash hands after painting. ## Before you start - Check the wood slices for splinters or loose bark. - Optional: do a math activity first, drawing concentric circles on the slices with a compass. ## Steps 1. Set out the wood slices, watercolors, brushes and a cup of water. 2. Draw circles or dividing lines on your slice with a pencil, or try a compass with a grown-up. 3. Wet your brush and load it with paint. 4. Paint your slice. Fill each section, or follow the natural rings in the wood. 5. Add 3-4 coats of paint, wetting your brush again each time to load more paint. 6. Paint the small slices as accessories for your big slice. 7. Let the slices dry. The paint dries pretty quickly. 8. Stack your wood cookies into cakes and tell a story with them. ## Tips - At least a 3 inch diameter wood slice makes for a wonderful canvas for younger kids. - The wood needed at least 3-4 coats of the watercolor paints. Like any watercolor project, I had to remind my 5 year old to keep wetting her brush to load more paint. - We were so glad we went with watercolors. The lightness of the paint gave the finished wood slices such a pleasant effect. - Painting along the natural rings in the wood made it more attractive to my older one's eyes. - The color wheel slice blended beautifully as it dried. - Some kids plan a theme from the start; others love to use ALL the colors and just fill the canvas in. I just let them be! ## FAQ **Will watercolor paint take on raw wood?** Yes. The author found the wood needed at least 3-4 coats, and the paint gave a light, blendable finish that dried pretty quickly. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2016) Simple art project for kids where the children use watercolors to paint wood slices. Display the finished slices or use them as props for [**pretend play.**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/role-play-2/) Materials **[Wood Slices](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018LZY5RO/?tag=blmemo-20)** **[Watercolors](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013S1A4Q2/?tag=blmemo-20)** Paint Brushes Pencils I set out the wood slices we purchased from our local craft store but the above links has a very similar product available online. At least a 3 inch diameter wood slice makes for a wonderful canvas for younger kids. If you look at the picture below you will see concentric circles on the wood slices {which is a separate post by itself that has to be written at some point} The children attempted to use compasses to measure and draw their circles. Once the circles were drawn it was painting time. We usually use our **[favorite brand of Liquid Watercolor Paints](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042SR5R2/?tag=blmemo-20)** and just enjoy exploring the vibrancy of the paints. All our [liquid watercolors art projects](https://www.funlittles.com/tag/liquid-water-colors/) and all our play based activities using liquid watercolors are here to show our love/obsession. However this time the younger child preferred to use water color cakes and that's what we did. Using **[Acrylic Paint](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ATJSD8I/?tag=blmemo-20)** would have been great too but I wanted something that is light, airy and easily blend able. Of course our trusty watercolor paints fit the bill. My older child was really into the whole green-blue palette since her plan since the beginning of this project was to create earth theme and a possible sunset theme. She has been that way ever since she was a young toddler doing activities. She has a plan and always does. It is actually challenge to have her engage in art projects without any design in mind. I just let her be! This little one on the other hand loves to use ALL the colors from the palette and just loves to fill the canvas in. As I mentioned before those lines on the wood slices are part of a math activity we did prior to painting the wood slices. We noticed that the wood needed at at least 3-4 coats of the water color paints and just like any watercolors art projects I had to remind my 5 year old to keep wetting her brush to load more paint. I love the way this art project turned out and we were so glad we went with water colors. The lightness of the paint gave the finished wood slices such a pleasant effect. This one below started out as a sunset theme as planned by my older one and then turned into a beautiful almost rainbow theme. She preferred to paint along the natural rings present in the wood slices and that made it more attractive to her eyes. Once the bigger slices were done, they had a ball painting the smaller slices. Not many details went on these ones and they just wanted to paint these as accessories to their primary slices { the earth theme, color wheel and sunset theme} The color wheel wood slice pictured below blended beautifully as it dried. You can see that the smaller wood slices were part of a larger pretend play session they already had going. So they are painting party favors for their "earth cakes". We stacked up all our colored wood pieces and at this point the kids had already decided on the next step in this fun activity. They planned on using these gorgeous wood cookies as props for their pretend play session. I'm so glad that the girls are stepping back and thinking about the colors they choose. Usually my older one has a color wheel next to her and starts planning colors based on what are analogous and opposite colors. They already have favorite combos { pink- purple, green-blue, yellow-pink and green-orange} The paint on the slices dried pretty quickly and a really long pretend play session involving stacking and story telling ensued. So many cakes were built. The play went inside with the addition of Shopkins. I love the paper props they created. In all, this simple water color art project turned into so much more for us. Thanks for reading Please pin this for your future reference.