How To Make A Coral Blow Painting With Straws
April 15, 2026
This coral blow painting with straws is a fun interactive summer activity for kids. Using paint and a straw, kids will create an underwater masterpiece that’s fit for a museum. This coral painting is perfect if you’re looking for easy summer activities, summer art projects, or a rainy day summer activity.
I love to pair this beautiful coral painting with these ocean-themed art projects and these ocean-themed crafts. On rainy days, we pick a bunch of bright ocean-themed activities to brighten up our day. Plus, the kids love the activities and don’t even realize that they are building motor skills, expressing creativity, and visual discrimination.
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What You’ll Need For This Coral Painting
How To Make A Coral Blow Painting With Straws
1. Create Your Ocean Background
Use different shades of blue watercolor paint to cover the entire sheet of watercolor paper. Blend the colors together to create a soft, watery look. Let the paper dry completely.
2. Prepare the Paint
Mix acrylic paint with a small amount of water until it’s slightly thinned (not too runny, not too thick).
3. Add Paint Drops
Place small drops of the thinned paint onto the paper. Scatter them across the page where you want the coral to grow.
4. Blow Your Coral to Life
Using a straw, gently blow the paint in different directions. Watch as it branches out into wild, spiky, coral-like shapes. Turn your paper and blow from different angles to create layered, organic designs.
5. Layer and Explore
Add more paint drops in different colors and repeat the blowing process. Overlapping colors creates a lively reef full of texture and movement.
6. Let It Dry
Allow your masterpiece to dry fully before displaying your underwater scene.
Fun Variations To Try
Background Variations: Use black construction paper for a dramatic deep-sea look or try using canvas instead of watercolor paper for a keepsake-worthy piece of art.
Add Ons: Glue on tissue paper fish or sea creatures after the paint dries or add sand at the bottom using actual sand or glued-on brown sugar. Kids can draw or stamp bubbles rising up from the coral with a finger dipped in blue/white paint. Kids can cut out and glue on paper sea turtles, fish, or starfish to complete the ocean scene. Adding glitter or sequins on the coral tips adds a sparkly underwater effect.
OCean-Themed Books
How To Make A Coral Blow Painting With Straws
This DIY coral blow painting with straws is an easy summer activity for kids. Kids will love creating this coral painting using paint and straws.
- Total Time20 + dry time
- Yield1 Blow Painting 1x
Materials
● Watercolor paper
● Blue watercolor paints (light, medium, dark shades)
● Acrylic paint (variety of bright colors)
● Water
● Straws
● Paintbrush
● Small cups or palette
Instructions
1. Create Your Ocean Background
Use different shades of blue watercolor paint to cover the entire sheet of watercolor paper. Blend the colors together to create a soft, watery look. Let the paper dry completely.
2. Prepare the Paint
Mix acrylic paint with a small amount of water until it’s slightly thinned (not too runny, not too thick).
3. Add Paint Drops
Place small drops of the thinned paint onto the paper. Scatter them across the page where you want the coral to grow.
4. Blow Your Coral to Life
Using a straw, gently blow the paint in different directions. Watch as it branches out into wild, spiky, coral-like shapes. Turn your paper and blow from different angles to create layered, organic designs.
5. Layer and Explore
Add more paint drops in different colors and repeat the blowing process. Overlapping colors creates a lively reef full of texture and movement.
6. Let It Dry
Allow your masterpiece to dry fully before displaying your underwater scene.
- Prep Time: 5
- Category: Activities, DIY, Summer
- Method: Tutorial
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