Looking for a vibrant and creative way to explore landscapes with kids? This Desert Landscape Art idea is a show-stopper — a super-easy collage and painting project that’s perfect for bringing the beauty of the desert to life!
Bursting with warm colors, playful textures, and stylized cacti, this mixed-media project combines painting, cutting, sticking, and drawing to help children build confidence with color, shape, and pattern design.
Kids will love layering colorful painted hills and crafting bold cactus forms with black line details, resulting in a striking, high-contrast desert scene full of personality.
Perfect for classrooms, homeschoolers, or weekend crafting, this activity is an engaging way for children to:
- Experiment with color theory and pattern-making
- Explore desert biomes, climate zones, and plant adaptations
- Build fine motor skills through drawing and collage
Flexible for a range of ages and adaptable across materials, it’s an excellent way to combine art with learning, with every piece turning out beautifully unique.
How to Make Desert Landscape Art – Easy Collage and Painting Project for Kids
Materials
- Card Stock for printing ( remember to check printer settings!)
- Paint ( Our tutorial features acrylic)
- Scrap Card Stock (or credit card/popsicle stick for scraping)
- Mixed Media – Acrylic, Gel, or Sharpie Marker Pens
- Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Pencil
- Landscape and Cacti Collage Templates (members will need to login to access the templates.)
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Painting the Cacti and Desert Landscape
Children are encouraged to use bold, abstract colors to bring their desert scenes to life. Rather than realistic tones, the landscapes feature vibrant pink skies, orange hills, and rich red or purple sand, creating warmth and drama.
By layering similar hues, children explore how color can set a mood and create harmony across the page. The cacti are painted in bold greens and yellows with added patterns, and small pops of contrasting color add extra interest and character to the scene.
How to Paint the Cacti Collage Templates
Step 1: Use the scrape painting technique to paint the cacti collage templates.
Begin by using the scrape painting technique to add color to the cactus collage templates.
Apply small blobs of green and yellow paint onto the paper.
Drag a piece of cardboard or a squeegee over the surface.
This quick and easy method creates a beautifully textured blend of greens and yellow.
Use a fine-tipped paintbrush to add color to the cactus flowers, or opt for colored marker pens for more control.
Switching from a squeegee to a smaller brush supports the development of fine motor skills and encourages precision in those smaller, detailed areas.
How to Paint the Desert Landcape Templates
Step 2: Paint the desert landscape.
Begin by choosing a harmonious palette of analogous colors – such as pinks, reds, oranges, and yellows – to create a warm and cohesive desert scene.
Use a flat brush to carefully fill each section of the landscape, focusing on smooth, even brushstrokes.
Apply darker tones towards the back and lighter shades at the front to create a sense of depth.
The use of pink adds a bold, abstract quality, encouraging creative expression while exploring color relationships and composition.
Using Simple Doodles to Create Visual Interest
Using simple doodles is an easy and effective way to introduce mixed media into kids’ art. It adds texture, pattern, and detail without needing advanced techniques, making the artwork feel more dynamic and layered.
Step 3: Add simple dashes and lines to the painted catci elements.
Once the painted cactus templates are dry, use black and white acrylic markers (or another suitable medium) to add simple doodles like dashes, dots, and lines.
These small marks create visual texture and help the cacti stand out against the bold landscape background.
It’s a fun and accessible way for kids to add detail and contrast, while exploring how simple patterns can bring flat shapes to life.
Each cactus element can feature its own unique doodles, or children can repeat a pattern across three or four pieces to create a sense of cohesiveness within the collage.
It’s a mindful way for children to explore pattern-making and a lovely opportunity to add their own unique touch to the finished desert landscape art.
Step 4: Add patterns and doodles to the desert landscape.
Once the background is dry, as well as black and white, use similar colored marker pens to add simple patterns and doodles across the painted hills and sky.
Try dots, dashes, waves, or tiny shapes to create contrast and texture.
These patterns can differ from the cactus doodles, helping to visually separate the foreground and background while keeping the whole piece cohesive.
It’s a playful, low-pressure way for children to build confidence with mark-making and personalize their artwork.
Step 5: Cut out the cactus template shapes.
Carefully cut out the painted cactus shapes. While it’s great fine motor practice, younger children may need a little help, especially with the smaller pieces.
To keep it manageable, consider using just a selection of shapes rather than all of them.
However, if the kids have the desire, it’s worth the effort, as the cut-out cacti bring the whole collage to life and cutting out the complete set offers more options!
Step 6: Arrange and Assemble the Cacti.
Mix and match your cut-out cactus pieces, arranging them across the painted landscape.
Try placing larger cacti in the foreground and smaller ones further back to create depth.
Children can experiment with overlapping pieces, adding flowers, or rotating shapes to explore composition.
There’s no right or wrong – this step is all about creative decision-making and building confidence in visual storytelling.
Once happy with the layout, glue the pieces down to complete the collage.
The Desert Landscape Art Tutorial – An Easy Collage and Painting Project for Kids is Complete
The tutorial is now complete, and children will have created a bold, expressive desert landscape using a mix of painting, collage, and doodling techniques. Along the way, they will have explored:
- Analogous color palettes to build tone and harmony
- Simple pattern-making to add texture and interest
- Mixed-media layering through collage and paint
- Fine motor skills through cutting, assembling, and detail work
- Visual composition by arranging foreground and background elements
- Creative confidence by making expressive, imaginative choices
This project is a fantastic introduction to mixed-media art and encourages children to take creative risks while developing key art and design skills in a playful, accessible way.
More Collage Art for Kids to Explore:
If your kids loved creating this bold desert scene, they’ll enjoy diving into more fun and creative collage art projects!
Try the Matisse Butterfly Collage to explore bold shapes and color like a true modern artist, or piece together a sweet Love Bird Collage full of charm and pattern.
For something bright and painterly, the Van Gogh-Inspired Sunflower Collage is bursting with texture and warmth.
And if you’re looking for something with a bit of seasonal flair, the Easy Sugar Skull Art is a colorful, pattern-filled project perfect for the Day of the Dead.
Each one offers a playful way to build skills in cutting, layering, and composition – all while having loads of creative fun!
