Marbled Art Tiles: Easy Art Project for Kids

January 24, 2022 Post a Comment

In today'due south post: Kids tin can make absurd marbled artwork using permanent markers, alcohol, and burn down!

A few years ago my mom came to visit and brought the coolest art project my kids can ever seen: marbled art tiles. Seriously, this project kept seven cousins (ages 5-15) decorated for HOURS. Literally, hours and hours. It'south fun, it's cheap, and it's easy. And the best part is that it volition keep your kids creating for hours. Or at to the lowest degree that's what I consider the best part. My kids consider the fact that in that location's FIRE involved the best role. Not burn your house down burn down, just a lilliputian this-is-the-coolest-thing-my-parents-have-e'er-permit-me-do fire.

Basically, yous kickoff by scribbling on a tile with a permanent marker. Drop alcohol on information technology to blend the ink, then low-cal the booze on fire to reveal a gorgeous pattern. These tiles brand cute marbled coasters perfect for DIY Mother'southward Twenty-four hours or Christmas gifts. And the older kids in our group even developed a fun technique that makes the coasters wait like colorful granite.

Today I'll give you all the info you need to make alcohol art tiles with your kids, then tomorrow I'll be sharing a video that shows you how to take them i stride further and brand them look like colorful granite coasters. Take hold of some kids and commencement making the cheapest, prettiest handmade mother's solar day or father's solar day or anyone'south mean solar day gifts around.

How to Make Marbled Art Tiles

Prophylactic Notation: Because this project uses burn down, Developed SUPERVISION IS REQUIRED. The simply thing that burns is a small amount of alcohol that sits on top of the tile, so the fire is contained and burns out quickly. Still, if a large amount of booze got spilled and then set on fire you lot could have a trouble, so be sure to supervise. As a parent, you are the all-time judge of whether yous feel this projection is safe to do with your children based on their historic period and ability to follow directions.

Marbled Art Tile Supplies

Sleeky white tiles: Nosotros used the four×four inch tiles from Home Depot that were 16 cents each. Go alee and buy a few more you think you'll need–the kids will want to brand lots!
91% rubbing alcohol: most rubbing alcohol is seventy% and information technology doesn't work quite as well, but 91% is like shooting fish in a barrel to find in just well-nigh any store with a chemist's section
Permanent markers: We used Sharpies, Bic markers, and a cheap set of markers from the dollar store. All of them worked bang-up, although 2 markers from the Bic set didn't alloy every bit well every bit the others. Don't use washable markers.
A cookie canvass covered in aluminum foil
A lighter like the one you see below
Optional: an eye dropper, a spritz bottle, polyurethane spray to seal the tiles, cheap plastic tablecloths to protect your work surface

First by letting the kids color on a tile. I think they wait all-time if yous stick to 3 or four colors, but they actually can just scribble to their hearts' content.

Next they tin pour some alcohol correct onto the tile, which will crusade the marker ink to start blending together. You can pour alcohol correct in the heart of the tile and choice up the tile and swirl it around, or you can utilize an eye dropper to identify private drops of alcohol all around the tile and let them blend together on their own, etc. Our kids had a great time experimenting with different means to use to alcohol.

At this betoken, place the tile on a cookie canvas covered with foil and move the booze away from the cookie sheet. This is an important safety pace, so I'll repeat it:

Place THE TILE ON A COOKIE SHEET THAT HAS BEEN COVERED WITH FOIL. Motion THE Booze Away FROM THE COOKIE Canvas.

Once you have completed that rubber step, you tin can employ the lighter to set the alcohol on burn down. The booze will burn until it's all gone, for about a minute, and every bit it finishes burning you'll see the pretty patterns information technology has created.

Be sure to apply caution during this stride. Equally I said, we had seven kids working on tiles at once. They each colored and applied alcohol to their own tiles, but when they were gear up to burn them the tiles were placed on the cookie canvas in the middle of the table and were lit under developed supervision. If a kid has doused the tile with alcohol y'all tin go a high flame, so be careful and be sure to supervise. Also be certain kids know non to add alcohol to a burning tile.

Once the flames are gone, check out your pretty blueprint!

The stop upshot volition vary depending on how the tile is colored and how the booze is applied. No matter the result, it'south so much fun for lilliputian kids to be able to turn their scribbles into something actually cute:

$Collage showing tile that\'s been scribbled on with pen, then the marbled design on the tile after it\'s been covered in alcohol and fired$

And yous know what?

$A close up of art tiles with the words: If you don\'t like how it turns out, just clean it off with alcohol and try again!$

You tin wipe the tiles clean using a newspaper towel with alcohol on it and colour them again! You can also modify the wait of a tile without cleaning it off first past adding more ink and booze. Some of the kids worked for quite a long time on a single tile.

For a more saturated wait you don't even take to burn off the alcohol – only let information technology air dry out. Here are a couple tiles my 5 and 7 year olds made:

Once your kids have completed their marbled art tiles, yous tin can employ polyurethane spray to seal them so they can no longer be erased. Brand sure to employ polyurethane, not a water-based polycrylic. Finally, add felt circles on the bottom if they're intended to exist used as coasters. Otherwise, grab a inexpensive mini easel and let your kid decide which tile to display each day.

Click hither to learn how to take this technique 1 step further: Colorful Fake Granite Coasters

And click here for more than kid art projects: 20 art projects for kids

And hither for more than fun kid activities: 50 indoor activities for kids