Easy Cat Painting For Kids: A Fun Guide

Painting cats is a fun activity for kids and can be a great way to keep them engaged and entertained. Cat face painting is a popular choice for kids' parties, Halloween, or costume events, and with the right materials and instructions, it can be a simple yet creative process. From cute kitty faces to fierce felines, tabby cats to rainbow kitties, there are endless possibilities to explore. This can be a wonderful way to encourage self-expression and creativity in children while also helping them develop fine motor skills and a sense of colour and design. So, whether it's a simple cat face paint for a child's party or a more detailed cat painting on a canvas, it's a purr-fectly fun activity for kids of all ages!

Painting a cat's face

Prepare your materials

Firstly, gather your materials. You will need paint in colours such as white, black, pink, and ruby red. Additionally, you will need brushes, including a wide chisel brush (1/2"), flat brushes, and round brushes. You can also add some sparkle with glitter in holographic white or other colours. If you don't have face paint, you can use basic makeup products like eyeliner or eyebrow pencils for the details.

Paint the base

Start by painting the base colour for the cat's face. Use a sponge to dab on a white background, covering the desired area. You can also use pink as a base, or add pink paint to the cheeks or lips for a cute touch.

Add the details

Now, it's time to add the details that bring the cat face to life! Draw on the cat's nose and whiskers using black paint or eyeliner. You can also add feline features like ears and fur to create a full cat face. Get creative and add some leopard print or other patterns for a unique touch. Concentrating the details around the mouth and eyes can be effective, especially if you're going for a more intricate design.

Embellish and complete

To make your cat face painting even more fun and whimsical, add some glitter! You can use edible glitter around the mouth area if you're concerned about ingestion. Finish the look with some fluffy cat ears and a cosy leopard-print coat or animal print clothing to complete the transformation into a cute kitty cat!

Remember, you can adapt these steps to your comfort level and creativity. Feel free to experiment with different colours and techniques to make your cat face painting unique and adorable!

Using a squeegee

Painting a cat with a squeegee is a fun and easy art project for kids. It's simple to create adorable cat paintings using this technique and a few other tools. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to paint a cute and easy cat using a squeegee:

Start by gathering your supplies. You will need a piece of paper, a squeegee, paint, and a protected surface like a baking tray or plastic tablecloth. You can use acrylic paint, which is inexpensive and easy to find, and it produces bold and bright colours.

Place your paper on the protected surface. Choose a paint colour and create a line of paint across the paper. You can use a different colour or shade for the next step. Add another line of paint at a different height, allowing the lines to overlap a bit.

Now, take your squeegee and scrape the paint down the paper. Make sure to rinse or wipe the squeegee before each new application to avoid mixing colours unintentionally. You can create as many cats as you like by repeating these steps.

For each new cat, vary the height and overlap of the paint lines to create different shapes and sizes. You can also add shorter cats on top of the previous ones for a layered effect.

Adding Details:

Once you've created your cat shapes, let the paint dry. Use a fine-tipped black marker to draw the cat's face, including eyes, a nose, whiskers, and details on the ears. Get creative and give each cat a unique "purr-sonality"!

Feel free to experiment with different colours, stripes, spots, or any other features or accessories. You can even dress up your cats with bows or add glitter, buttons, or sequins to make them shine.

And that's it! You now have a fun and unique cat painting created with a squeegee. This is a great activity for kids to explore their creativity and make adorable art.

Creating stripes

If you are using a squeegee, start by placing your paper on a protected surface, such as a baking tray or a plastic tablecloth. Then, add lines of paint in different colours or shades, overlapping them slightly. You can also use a squeeze bottle to apply the paint. Next, use a toothpick to create diagonal lines for the ears. Scrape the paint down the paper with the squeegee, and repeat to add more cats to your painting.

For a paintbrush technique, start by painting 2.5-inch stripes using a foam paintbrush. Cover the entire canvas with pink, teal, and purple paint. Allow the paint to dry for a few minutes, and then wipe off any leftover paint with a towel or rinse the brush.

You can also add stripes to a cat face painting design. Use black and white eyeliner to create alternating stripes over the cheekbones. This will give your cat design a tabby-like appearance.

Adding details

Experiment with different mediums

Using a variety of mediums such as watercolour, gel paints, tempera, or acrylic paints can add depth and texture to a painting. Layering different types of paint can create interesting effects and help achieve the desired look. For example, using black glue as the outline of a rose and then filling it in with watercolour paints adds a unique touch.

Incorporate nature

Integrating natural elements into a painting can add a beautiful and organic touch. For instance, using flowers with large petals to create flower prints is a fun way to involve nature. Paint the petals and gently press them onto paper to reveal a flower shape. This technique can be used to create a variety of floral designs and patterns.

Try different tools

Encourage kids to experiment with different tools beyond just paintbrushes. For example, they can use forks to create tulip shapes, Q-tips for lavender flowers, or even their fingers for a more tactile experience. Using unconventional tools helps develop fine motor skills and adds interesting textures to the painting.

Add final touches

Encourage kids to add their unique final touches to their paintings. This could be in the form of collage, drawing on top of painted paper, or adding finishing elements such as googly eyes to create adorable crafts. These additional details can bring the painting to life and make it more personalised.

Explore colour mixing

Acrylic paints are a great medium to teach kids about colour theory and mixing. By understanding how colours combine, kids can create secondary colours and experiment with shading to add depth to their paintings. This knowledge will help them make bold colour choices and create visually appealing compositions.

Drying and finishing

Once you've finished painting your cat, it's important to give it enough time to dry. Depending on the type of paint you've used, this could take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. For the cat painting tutorial from The Inspiration Edit, they recommend allowing at least an hour for the paint to dry.

During the painting process, you may also need to pause and let certain elements dry before moving on to the next step. For example, after painting the white circles for the eyes, you should let the paint dry for a few minutes before adding the black circles for the pupils. This will help to ensure that the colours don't bleed into each other and that your cat's features remain nice and crisp.

It's important to be patient during the drying process and to avoid touching or handling the painting until it is completely dry. This will help to prevent smudging or smearing, which could ruin all your hard work. If you're working with multiple layers of paint, such as in the cat squeegee painting technique, make sure each layer is completely dry before adding the next.

Once your cat painting is dry to the touch, you can consider adding any final touches or embellishments. This might include using a marker to add details to the cat's face, such as whiskers, a nose, and a mouth. You could also get creative and give your cat a unique "purr-sonality" by playing around with different eye shapes, ear positions, or even adding accessories like a hat or a bowtie.

Finally, when you're happy with your masterpiece, it's time to display it! Cat paintings are perfect for framing and hanging on the wall, or you could even stick them on the fridge to showcase your artistic talents.

Frequently asked questions