Resist Art Stepping Stones

Hi friends! I’m super excited to be joining in with some of my favorite art moms for a new an ongoing series called “Easy Art Projects for Kids.” This week’s theme is Resist Art, and the kids and I came up with a fun garden art project to brighten up your landscape just in time for spring! After you check out our colorful stepping stones, be sure to use the links at the end of the post to visit the other participating blogs and see their Resist Art projects, too!

Resist Art Stepping Stones

Now that warmer temps are here (mostly) to stay, the twins and I are making plans to spruce up our garden once again. And what’s a kid garden without a little color? Using a resist art technique, we took some plain stepping stones from drab to fab in just a few steps. Wanna see how we did it?

Let’s Make!

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First, we gathered our supplies. I found some generic square flagstones at Lowe’s for $1.30 each. I chose some that were relatively smooth so the tape would seal well to the surface and minimize bleeding. In addition to your flagstones, you will need:

• Painter’s tape
• Patio Paint or similar outdoor acrylic paint in several colors
• Brushes (we used cheap sponge brushes)
• Small paint rollers (optional but they made the second part of the project a lot easier and fun for the kids)
• Spray enamel sealer (not sure if this is mandatory, but I wanted an extra layer of sealant on my flagstones)

Before beginning, I quickly brushed off our flagstones with a stiff paintbrush to remove any extra dirt. Then I placed our flagstones, paint, and children on a blanket in the yard on a sunny afternoon and let them go. I encouraged them to try lots of different painting techniques, including brushing, dotting, and even flinging and flicking the paint onto the flagstones. This kept them interested and experimenting and also kept them from just smearing it all into one brown blob 😉

After those had dried overnight, we moved to our art table in the backyard (under a shade tree, so please excuse the dappled photos) and had some fun ripping, tearing, and sticking the painter’s tape all over the surface of our painted flagstones. I encouraged the twins to cover the whole surface of the stone in a “spiderweb” of tape and also helped them tear the tape and position it when necessary.

After we were done taping, I pulled out two bottles of blue Patio Paint and squirted them onto paper plates. The twins happily used their little rollers to cover every last inch of their masterpieces with the blue paint. I helped them go over it all a second time to make sure we got good coverage since the flagstones are porous.

When it was finished, we had two pretty boring blue flagstones.

However, gratification was not far away! I was afraid to let the paint dry too much because I didn’t want it to peel off with the tape, so the twins and I carefully peeled off our tape a few minutes after finishing the blue layer.

SO cool!! We loved the random geometric pattern left by the tape, and even though the paint leached a little under the edges (you can’t really avoid it when working with a surface such as concrete), it still looks super neat!

I wish I had a lush green landscape to photograph these on, but you’ll have to settle for a few green weeds among some dead grass. But wouldn’t these be whimsical and fun scattered through a children’s garden or even across a lawn? Or in an outdoor playscape? We will definitely be making more of these this spring to add to our crazy back yard 😉

Now, don’t forget to check out these other fun resist art projects:

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