Recycle roll-on deodorant bottles by turning them into roll-on painting bottles for toddlers to make mess-free art!

Recycle roll-on deodorant bottles by turning them into roll-on painting bottles for toddlers to make mess-free art! 

My son has a curious fascination with vessels. In a store, he often eyes the shelves with straw cups, flasks, and bottles longingly, never giving up hope that one day we’ll buy one of those huge kegs. We got him a small one last year, and it was his prized possession for a week. So, it’s no surprise that his grandma often brings him a few interesting empty jars as a small gift. That’s how one time we ended up with an empty roll-on deodorant bottle.

Previously, I have never even thought of opening one, but my son did and immediately had a suggestion of putting some paint water into it. That wasn’t really a surprising request. Mixing concoctions has always been one of his favourite games, and that’s probably at least one reason for his interest in bottles. But a roll-on bottle wasn’t only good for holding his paint mixture; it turned out that it actually worked quite decently as a roll-on brush!

Ever since, I’ve been collecting roll-on deodorant bottles and looking forward to having a big roll-on painting project. I ended up with four bottles before finally putting this idea into action. 

You obviously don’t have to have this many to try it out. Just sometimes, when your roll-on deodorant runs out, wash off the bottle and add a little paint, mixed with water inside. Then take out some paper and give it a try!

Now, my son is five, so for him it was more of a fun recycling project. But his little sister, who is almost two, really enjoyed working with paints in this fashion. Stubby bottles worked well for her little hands, and I didn’t need to worry about her spilling paints or water on the floor. Roll-on bottles made painting with watercolours accessible and mess-free for a toddler.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links to the products we used.

How to Paint with Roll-On Bottles

We re-used Nivea roll-on deodorant bottles. You can also buy empty roll-on bottles.

Take the lid off the bottle. Taking the roller off the bottle may be a little difficult. Use the knife to pry it open. Wash the bottle off.

Add watercolour paint mixed with water (1:1). We used liquid watercolours that came so handy for many of our projects in the past. If you have pan watercolours, you can mix them into water with a brush. You can also use food colouring, but if you do, beware of staining.

Put the roller and the lid back on. Take the labels off, so that the colours would show better.

The bottles are ready for painting!

Roll-On Bottle Paintings

This is the painting that my son and my daughter created together. It was great to see them work side-by-side!

After my toddler proclaimed that she was done, my son tried with another sheet of paper.

More Painting Ideas?

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Paint rain with a printable art prompt.

Thank you for reading!

Recycle roll-on deodorant bottles by turning them into roll-on painting bottles for toddlers to make mess-free art! #toddlers #painting #kidscrafts #recycling #kidsart