Art

National Gallery of Art Paint ’n’ Play

A digital painting tool with brushes and palettes based on artists in the National Gallery of Art collection.

Paint ’n’ Play lets a child try out the look of a painting without setting out real paint. The museum names artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Alma Thomas as starting references. Painting the same imagined place twice, with different brushes or colors, shows how marks change a picture.

Ages: Ages 5 and up
Works on: Web browser
Topics: Art
Languages: English
Listed: 2026-10-11

What kids do

Try artist-inspired brushes
Switch between contrasting palettes
Paint an imagined scene
Compare two versions of a picture

Who it suits

The National Gallery of Art lists Paint ’n’ Play for ages 5 and up.

Notes for parents

The museum recommends a computer or tablet, with tablets turned to landscape. On a bigger screen, two people can look and talk about the picture together more easily.

What you need

Computer or tablet
Browser
Tablet turned to landscape

Visit National Gallery of Art Paint ’n’ Play

In these guides

Drawing, animation and music apps for kids who would rather make than watch: Creative apps for kids: digital painting, step-by-step drawing, stop motion, pixel animation and beat-making, grouped by the kind of making each involves.

More Art

Art for Kids Hub: Step-by-step drawing videos in which a parent and child draw the same subject side by side.
Stop Motion Studio: An app for making stop-motion films by photographing small movements one frame at a time.
MoMA At-Home Art Activities: Art-making ideas from MoMA, each starting from a work in the museum’s collection.
Jarrett Lerner Creative Activities: Printable comics, story starters and drawing prompts from author-illustrator Jarrett Lerner.
Getty Drawing With Kids: A short Getty article with five drawing ideas tied to artworks in the museum’s collection.
V&A Make & Do for Kids: Design activities from the V&A, from a fantastic creature to a patterned tile or a story setting.
Piskel for Kids: A pixel-art editor for drawing small characters and turning them into animated sprites.
Tux Paint: A children’s drawing program with a penguin mascot, sound effects and an open canvas.