Lemon Stamping: Summer Process Art for Preschool

Looking for a fun Summer Process Art project for preschoolers? This Lemon Stamping activity is so much fun! Kids will enjoy using citrus fruits to stamp paint onto a page.

We’ve had a lot of fun lately with stamping with vegetables. You can check out our Shamrock Pepper Stamping here and our Carrot Stamping Craft here.

So naturally with summer coming up, it was time for a summer twist!

Lemon Stamping process art for preschoolers - child using yellow paint to stamp a lemon onto a page

This is an fun lemon stamping craft for preschoolers, kindergarten, and lower elementary grades.

It’s an open ended art project, so the finished craft is cool, but it’s more about the process of creating!

What is Process Art?

Process Art is focusing on the process of creating art instead of the end result. You provide the materials and then the child has fun creating. Having a finished project at the end is not the goal. For process art, the goal is to allow the child creativity and control over the end result, not step by step directions.

You can learn more about Process Art over at Messy Little Monster.

Feel free to use this lemon stamping craft as process art, or as a teacher led craft.

You know your students and kids best, so do what is best for your situation and your little ones!

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Supplies Needed for Lemon Stamping

lemons and lime on a wooden board pictured with paper plates and kids washable paint

Washable Paint (we love this paint by Crayola)
Paper plate – for the paint
A Lemon
A Lime (optional, but adds to the fun!)
Knife and cutting board
Paper – Any kind will work – We used copy paper, but white construction paper works well too!
Paint Smocks (to minimize the mess!)
Plastic Table cloth

How to Prepare the Lemons & Limes

2 lemons cut on a cutting board, one sliced lengthwise, and the other sliced to show the segments

This project can be done 3 different ways.

1) You can simply cut the lemons and limes in half and begin to stamp. However, this won’t give you a lemon/lemon looking print. It will have more of a blob effect.

2) If you want it to look like a lemon or lime print, you will need to carefully cut around the fruit’s membranes, cutting the juicy sections out and leaving the membranes intact. It takes a while for the juice to run out of the lemon, so your first few stamps won’t be your best. Once the stamp has been used a while, you will start to see the “pretty lemon slice effect.”

picture of lemon slices stamped onto a page

girl using a lemon to stamp yellow paint lemon slices onto a page

3) A different, less messy way to do this is to cut the lemon lengthwise and cut all of the lemon out, leaving just the rind. This will give you a lemon shape to stamp with, which is a fun effect as well!

Yellow Lemon prints made with a lemon sliced lengthwise.

Child stamping yellow lemon prints onto a white paper next to a plate of lemons

Overall, I’d recommend that you get a couple of lemons and try a few different ways. Keep your end goal in mind.

If you plan to use these as wrapping paper or cards, then you might want to go with the most beautiful option. However, if this is process art for a toddler, I’d go with one of the easier options to prep.

How to do Lemon Stamping

First, put a smock on your child and cover your table with a plastic tablecloth. (As you can see from the pictures, we went rogue.)

I like to cut fruit in front of the kids. Many kids haven’t ever seen the inside of a lemon or lime. Show them how it looks on the inside and take the opportunity to teach them about some of the things lemons and limes are used to make.

My daughter enjoyed tasting the lemons and limes.

Next, take your paint and pour it onto the paper plate. We chose to use yellow, pink, and green. I created the light green by mixing green, yellow and white.

Child smiles as she adds pink lemon slice prints onto her page

Child dipping half of a lemon into pink paint

If you use this as process art, provide the kids with the supplies and let them have fun!

lemon stamping - child using pink paint to stamp a lemon

You can also do a more teacher led approach and show the kids how to dip the lemon into the paint and then stamp it firmly onto the paper.

As I mentioned before, this project can be great for open-ended creativity or you can use it to create a fun card or wrapping paper!

I noticed that the Lime (or at least our lime) was not as juicy, so it could possibly be cut in half and not scooped out. It did make decently good prints just sliced!

Lime stamping - a lime stamped with green paint onto a paper

More Fruit and Vegetable Stamping Fun

Love this Lemon Stamping Art?

There’s a Pineapple Printing Fireworks craft here. Use the top of a pineapple to create one of a kind art!

Be sure to check out the Pepper stamping here. In this craft, kids use a pepper and green paint to print a shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day.

Also, there’s a Carrot Stamping Craft here. Kids use an actual carrot to create a row of carrots. We used a fork to print the carrot tops! So cute and so much fun for kids!

Summer Craft for preschoolers - Lemon stamping process art - child stamps a lemon into yellow paint and makes prints onto a white sheet of paper.

More Summer Crafts & Activities for Kids

Ice Cream is a fun theme for summer time! You can find tons of fun Ice Cream Printables and Activities here.

If you want some patriotic crafts for Independence Day, you can grab a free printable Uncle Sam hat headband here. There’s also a free Color by Number American flag here.

There’s a fun Lacing Watermelon Paper Craft here. Such a fun way for young children to practice fine motor skills.

You can find 3 free summer themed color by number pages here as well.

If you’d like a whole pack of Summer themed printables, be sure to check out this Summer Preschool Activities Pack in my Etsy shop!