How to Make Salad Spinner Art

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!

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.