Pinecone Painting - Preschooligans.com

Box top with paper inside and paint covered pinecone that has been rolled back and forth to create artwork.

This week we’re showcasing one of our favorite process art projects: Pinecone Painting.

I’m a big fan of alternating process art (focus on the artistic process not the outcome) activities with arts and crafts that do have a specified outcome. I’ve found that most preschoolers love to experiment with the creative process in their artistic explorations, but sometimes they also want to create things that have a specified outcome.

This project falls squarely in the process art category. I love that it gives children the opportunity to experiment with unusual painting tools with no specific outcome.

I am a sucker for a pine tree bulging with pinecones. Big ones, little ones, pointy ones, round ones — you name it. Friends and family all have stories of us being somewhere together and I stop and stuff my pockets with pinecones. But I digress. Again.

So, here we’re painting with pinecones. This is one of our favorite any-weather activities because pinecones are free and easily locatable in our neck of the woods all year long. As such, the children know what they are and find it fascinating to use them as paint tools because they’re using everyday objects in ways they haven’t experienced before. Plus it makes for fun science experimenting (the paint-soaked pinecones will begin to close up) and it gives the children full control over this unusual and unique process art experience.

Box top with paper inside and paint covered pinecone

So, here’s what you’ll need:

8.5 x 11 construction paper (we used white).
Shallow box or box lid that can hold an 8.5 x 11 piece of construction paper laying flat.
Acrylic or tempera paints in contrasting or seasonal colors.
Several pinecones in different shapes and sizes

We’ve tried different ways of applying the paint and found the best way is to carefully squeeze the paint onto the pinecone at an angle so it seeps into the nooks and crannies.

By squeezing paint into the folds of the pinecone, the paint drips out at a slower rate and spreads better.

Once the paint is applied, the child can begin rocking the box lid from side to side. The pinecone will gradually drop paint as it rolls, and will spread paint as it goes back and forth.

Once the child is happy with the first color, remove the pinecone and place a fresh pinecone in the box. Coat that one with the new selected color in the same way.

And roll!

And repeat with any additional colors. We do recommend you use a different pinecone for each color. They can be reused by reapplying the same color for subsequent students, but it will keep the colors fresh and vibrant if you only use one color of paint per pinecone.