Fork Art Painting Techniques
What is fork art?
Fork painting is a simple and effective way for anyone to create colourful paintings at home and is particularly ideal for pre-schoolers and young children alike as it is much easier than using a paint brush. You can also add it to collages or other paintings to create movement and different textures.
The popularity of kids fork art may also be partly due to the fact that it is a cheap, readily available option for parents to use at any time as all that is required is a little paint, some paper and an old fork.
Flowers, fur, feathers and fireworks
Fork art painting naturally lends itself to pictures with flowers, fur, feathers and fireworks as the shape of the fork prongs give a sense of direction and movement but of course you can paint so many more things.
You can watch our own video here to see the techniques we used for fork and spoon painting.
Fork art for adults
It’s not just for children as adults can get involved too. Of course the artwork will still be quite simple but can be embellished with more complex designs, multiple layers and specific detailing that can be added by paint brush.
Why is fork painting good for toddlers?
Kids fork art is an excellent way to encourage very young children to gain confidence exploring their creativity whilst also helping them to improve their manual dexterity and hand to eye co-ordination at the same time. It is also a great activity to do in small groups helping to encourage those early socialisation skills as children work together discussing what colour to use or taking it in turns to add their fork print.
How do you make a fork painting?
Our top tip:
Use some plastic or paper plates for the paint, one for each colour if children are very young or squeeze several colours onto a plate for older children to use. It’s also a good idea to have a few practice goes on a spare sheet of paper first.
To begin...
1. Dip a fork in some paint and carefully press onto the paper.
2. To ensure a good imprint of the paint on to the paper, press from the rounded bottom section up to the top of the prongs.
3. If you only want to add alight coat of paint so that the colour is softer, you could brush the back of the fork with paint using a paint brush.
Check out our art supplies here
How to add detail
Use a thin brush to paint in the stems or leaves of flowers. Tulips work really well here. If you have painted an animal add the eyes and nose with a brush too.
Kids' spoon art
It’s not just forks you can use as desert spoons also make a great painting tool. They are ideal to create the rounder shape of the body of an animal. For that matter, why stop at forks and spoons? Spoon art painting is just the beginning as any kitchen or household utensil will do.
Fork painting is a really enjoyable way to create art work for all ages and we would love to see your paintings so please do share them with us on our social platforms.
If you need some fork painting inspiration, check out our Creative Station. There’s so much to choose from including a jelly fish, a parrot and even a peacock.
