3D fireworks art project

Create an eye-catching 3D fireworks art project using a simple watercolour-resist painting technique and our printable template.

This has been created with New Years Eve in mind, but it would also be a great project for 4th July, Guy Fawkes night, or any occasion where fireworks are set off.

Get the template with printable instructions here

We love watercolour art projects! This one invites kids to get creative drawing their fireworks in crayon, then watch them brighten up like real fireworks as the liquid watercolour night sky is painted on.

To add to the effect, a paper city skyline is glued over the top so it ‘pops’ out in front of the artwork, giving the picture a 3D effect. It’s hard to see from the front-on angle, but here it is from a top-down view.

And here’s a side-on angle.

This craft has been designed for kids aged 8 and up, but you could easily adapt it for younger kids by omitting the skyline and just doing the crayon and watercolour part, in which case you wouldn’t need the template.

We also have a New Year noisemaker craft and some print-and-colour party hats younger kids would enjoy.

For now, let’s get onto the fireworks project …

How to create a 3D fireworks art project

Note about materials:

You will need watercolour paper for this project. The painters’ tape step is not essential, especially if your watercolour paper is good quality, but it creates a nice white frame around the artwork and also prevents warping.

For the city, black card stock is suggested for sturdiness. A 2-up version of this template has been created for group crafting to save on materials.

Variation idea:

I consider liquid watercolours a “luxury” art product. If you have none, you could create the firework art with oil or chalk pastels over a dark blue card stock background and skip the watercolour paint step altogether.

Materials:

The printable template—this comes complete with instructions and step-by-step photos. It’s available from both our printables shop and our TPT store
Watercolour paper
Black card stock
Crayons in light, bright colours plus white
Liquid watercolour paint in blue and (as an optional extra) dark purple
Pale yellow acrylic paint
A fine-tipped brush for the city lights
A wide sponge brush for the liquid watercolour sky
Painters tape
Glue stick
Scissors

How To:

Print the city outline to plain paper. Staple the shape to black card stock, with one staple in each corner, then cut it out to get the city outline on black.

Fold the edge on either side of the strip to create a tab. Do not paint lights on these strips.

Use a fine-tipped brush to dot city lights on city skyline. A tip is to grid the dots in rows on some buildings so it looks like all the lights are on, and dot them randomly on other buildings, so it appears most people have gone home for the day.

Tape your sheet of watercolour paper to the table with painters tape. Run the tape the entire length of all four sides approximately 6mm (just over 1/4”) in from the edge.

Draw fireworks in crayons, covering the top 2/3 of the page (approximately). I’ve gone for starburst designs in the examples, but kids can get creative with it.

Use a thick sponge brush to paint liquid watercolour over the top. If you like, you can create a dark blue-to-purple blend but straight blue works fine.

Allow to dry completely before peeling the tape away from your artwork.