How To Make Rainbow Batik With Kids

If you’re looking for a rainy-day craft that’s messy in the best way and guaranteed to brighten your home, rainbow batik is the perfect project. This simple DIY batik technique uses supplies you already have around the house and gives your kids a chance to create artwork that looks just as vibrant as fabric you’d find in a market overseas.

Unlike traditional batik, which relies on hot wax and special dyes, this kid-friendly version is safe, easy, and completely adaptable. Whether you’re homeschooling, planning a weekend project, or just want to keep little hands busy after school, rainbow batik will bring out your child’s inner artist.

What is Batik?

Batik is an ancient fabric art technique where wax is applied to cloth in patterns or designs, then dyed to create striking, colorful effects. Once the wax is removed, the designs remain crisp and bold against the background colors.

For kids, we swap out wax and fabric for more accessible materials like glue, crayons, and washable paints. The results still mimic the bold, resist-style patterns of batik without the hazards.

When I found this project, I immediately went on a search around my home for a plain white anything I could try this with! Such a fun project to do with the family or even with a larger group of kids. All you need is some Elmer’s Gel Glue, some acrylic paint, and something to make a rainbow batik design on.

Learn how to make your own batik design using these directions and step-by-step pictures on Our Creative Day.

Variations to Try

Seasonal Batik: Try snowflakes in winter blues, flowers in spring pastels, or autumn leaves in warm oranges and browns.
Personalized Gifts: Create batik-style tote bags or pillowcases as DIY presents for grandparents.
Paper Batik: If you don’t have fabric handy, thick watercolor paper works as a substitute.

Rainbow batik is one of those rare crafts that looks impressive but is simple enough for even the youngest artists. Parents love it because it sparks creativity without needing expensive supplies, and kids love it because they can splash paint around and watch the patterns magically appear.

So next time your little ones are climbing the walls on a rainy afternoon, grab the glue, mix up some colors, and let them dive into a world of rainbow batik. Their finished masterpiece might just be fridge-worthy—or even frame-worthy.

Check out these Batik tye-dye kits we found on Amazon.

Next Plan Idea:

Teach the Teacher Printable Worksheets: A Fun…

Shark Week generally happens in July, but any time is a good time to learn more about sharks.

First, start with some fun whale facts like these from Kids Craft Room. Here I learned about the dwarf lantern shark, which is the smallest shark and only grows to about 6-8 inches (about 15-20 cm) long. It also emits light. How cool is that?

Natural Beach Living has some great printable shark information guides, where kids can learn about different kinds of sharks, match the facts to the pictures, or print out doubles and do a shark memory game.

Living Life an Learning has some great shark activity pages including the parts of a shark, types of sharks, a crossword puzzle and more. Also check out their parts of a shark and word scramble download, and a life cycle worksheet.

Learn about how sharks float with this great activity from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Need more facts about sharks? This fact pact from The WOLFe PACK on Teacher Pay Teachers includes fact sheets, a printable flip book, informational text, vocabulary, comprehension questions and more.

Living Montessori Now has a great collection of shark themed activities with a Montessori inspired twist. You’ll find a shark roll and cover, shark phonics and lots more shark activities Deb has collected from all over the Internet.

Remember the “Sharknado” movie? A Few Shortcuts turned the combination of sharks and tornadoes into a fun science activity. You’ll need a bottle connector for this project but otherwise should have everything you need on hand. Use their template to make your sharks out of aluminum foil. So fun!

You can also do some shark themed coloring with these coloring pages from Encouraging Moms at Home. Or make a cool 3D shark with this template from korkotak. And there are tons of different shark crafts collected in this post from Kids Activities Blog.

What is Batik?

Variations to Try

Next Plan Idea:

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