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    You are here: Home / Art and Crafts / How to Make Salad Spinner Art

     

    How to Make Salad Spinner Art

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    If your kids are more active than still, more squirmy than quiet, they will love salad spinner art! This active art project was perfect for my son who prefers his creative projects to include shaking, rolling, squishing and spinning. We'll show you how to make salad spinner art for a great afternoon of creativity with the kids!

    Collage of salad spinner art examples and process

    How to Make Salad Spinner Art

    Salad spinner art is actually very easy and is an excellent art project for preschoolers, who love to work the spinner. As yes, you can use your kitchen spinner because if you use washable paint, a good scrub will make your spinner food-worthy again.

    Materials

    Salad spinner. You can use the kind with a pump top or a hand crank. Our crank-type spinner was only $7 from IKEA. I bet you can find an even cheaper one at a dollar store if you want a spinner dedicated to making art.

    Paper. Any paper will do, but heavy paper or even finger paint paper will work nicely. You could also try paper plates.

    Washable paint. I highly recommend using WASHABLE paint for any indoor art projects. (Especially when you must do art in your tiny apartment!)

    Scissors.

    TRENDING: 10 Indoor Active Art Projects for Kids

    Instructions:

    1. Cut the paper to fit in the spinner. For variety, cut into different shapes like circles, squares and hearts.

    2. Place paper inside the bottom of the salad spinner basket.

    3. Squirt several drops of paint on the paper.

    Salad spinner with paper and blobs of red and blue paint inside

    A note on using paint. Allow children to choose different colors. When kids get a whole bottle of paint they may have the urge to squeeze out as much as possible. Gently guide them to resist that urge, but encourage them to explore the effect of how different quantities of paint behave in the spinner.

    Salad spinner with heart shaped paper inside with yellow and red blobs of paint

    You might also experiment with drops vs. blobs vs. swirls of paint. We discovered that making swirls and various drops of paint made for a more interesting result that one big, gigantic blob.

    4. Close the spinner and spin, spin, spin! Kids will love this part. Some may want to keep spinning and some may want to finish quickly. Allow them to see how their choices change the finished product.

    Child removing heart shaped painted paper from salad spinner

    5. When the child has finished spinning, carefully open the salad spinner and remove the paper. Place in a protected area and leave until fully dry.

    Assorted examples of salad spinner art

    Ideas for Spinner Art

    Believe me when I say most kids will not want to stop with only one piece of salad spinner art. Here are some ideas for using their new art collection:

    • Heart shaped spinner art make great valentines!
    • Use them in a collage
    • Write messages on the back and use them as cards
    • Arrange four favorite pieces in a frame in Andy Warhol style.
    Close up of heart shaped salad spinner art

    Check out more indoor art projects great for active kids:

    • Shaken container painting
    • Painting with Marbles
    • Painting with Magnets
    • Large Scale Cityscape Sponge Painting

    First published 2009, updated January, 2022.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jenny says

      February 13, 2009 at 2:07 pm

      I know CJ would love that. Now to figure out where to get a cheap one as we don't have Ikea- hopefully SuperTarget will come to my rescue. I love Discount School Supply- I was just thinking I needed to get an order together to help us while away the days while Rose is still so small. Does Kiddo have any favorite amusements?

      Reply
    2. Mom and Kiddo says

      February 13, 2009 at 2:39 pm

      I was thinking that the paint would stain the spinner but after I washed it I thought, "duh I just used WASHABLE paint"!

      Reply
    3. Sherry says

      February 13, 2009 at 1:56 pm

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Reply
    4. Sherry says

      February 13, 2009 at 1:58 pm

      This is one of those things I've wanted to try, but forgotten all about. Thanks for the reminder; it looks like a lot of fun. We will definitely be doing this soon. 🙂

      Reply
    5. Julie says

      February 13, 2009 at 2:31 pm

      yes - that's something I want to "borrow" too. 🙂

      BTW, why didn't you want to use your spinner? Did the paint stain the Ikea one? or is it paint chemicals that worry you?

      Reply
      • LAMB says

        January 12, 2020 at 11:54 am

        Thank you for this comment; I thought the same thing!

        Reply
    6. Super Fun Mama says

      February 13, 2009 at 11:31 pm

      This sounds like fun. I don't have a spinner, so might get one just for this.

      Reply
    7. angella says

      March 31, 2014 at 1:04 pm

      i love it! thanks for sharing. i will be doing this with my 16 kiddos in my class. i am your huge fans now 😀

      Reply

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