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.

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

What is Batik?

Variations to Try

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