Summer Camp: Turn Your Child’s Artwork into Canvas Wall Art

Turning your child’s artwork into wall art is such a fun way to remember how they draw for years to come!

Hey everyone. Vanessa here from Our Thrifty Ideas, a blog all about family, crafts, food and fun! I’m so excited to be here sharing a fun Summer project idea with you today. This is one my daughter loves doing, and is a perfect art project for Summertime as you can do the whole thing in the warm outdoors!!

My daughter spends the majority of her days drawing pictures; mainly pictures of our family. So one day I had the idea to put some of her pictures on the wall in her room, but in a more decorative way than just taping a paper up….I wanted something that would match her room and act as decor. I love how these projects have turned out (we’ve done quite a few already!) and she is so proud of them. Now we will always have these to remember how she would draw and color!

Supplies:

• Stretched Canvas (size of your choice)
• Pencil
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
• Spray Paint (color of your choice)
• A child!!

Start by having your child draw a picture of their choice (or give them direction on what to draw). My daughter wanted a family picture in her room, so that’s what she drew…plus a bunch of animals that she wishes were part of the family! While they are drawing, plug in your hot glue gun to warm up.

The next part is for the parents to do. My kids aren’t quite old enough to trust with a hot glue gun, so I usually man this part! Trace the entire picture with hot glue. It can be hard to get the lines even, but do the best that you can!

Now, if you are like me you will have little glue strings ALL OVER the picture! The kids and I both help with pulling them off. I used some little tweezers since my fingers were so big and couldn’t grip them well. But the kids little fingers are perfect for getting a hold of them and pulling them off! Try to get as many off as you can, because they will show a lot more once painted.

Now for the most fun part. Let the kids get to painting!! If you have a potent paint, or are doing it indoors, I would recommend having your child wear a small filter mask over their mouth & nose. Since we did it outside, I didn’t worry about it. Also, we just paint on our grass because it’ll just get cut in a few days…but if you don’t want colored grass, or don’t have somewhere to spray, lay down some cardboard or even some junk mail/newspaper works great!

We have some that are rainbow colored, some have more of a graffiti look to them, and others are a solid color all the way across. As you can see in the picture above, we even spray with white. Although the canvas is already white, you need to spray it to cover the pencil marks and also make the glue blend into the canvas!

This family “photo” is proudly displayed in my daughters bedroom, but I also can’t wait to get a bunch more done and displayed in their playroom. Wouldn’t it be cute in all the primary colors covering a whole wall?!

What is your favorite way to display the art your children make? I would love more ideas to get mine creating this Summer.

Thanks for letting me stop by today. Make sure to check out other fun ideas on my blog, and also check out my social media channels where I share a lot of behind the scenes stuff as well!

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Thanks for the great memory-making idea, Vanessa!

Stay tuned for more summertime fun ideas! Our Kids’ Summer Camp Season will last until mid-July. Want to see more? Check out the full collection (including the archives!) of Summer Camp ideas.