A caterpillar of six dots with drawn legs and feelersRed and green. A red dot for the head and five green ones behind it. An adult adds legs with a pen.
A pumpkin filled with orange dotsOrange and green. Draw a wide pumpkin. Orange fills it and one green dot on top is the stem.
A dump truck with a load of dotsBlue and orange. Draw a truck with an empty bed. The child piles dots in the back until it is full.
A big apple filled with red dots, with one green dot for the leafRed and green. An adult draws an apple as wide as a hand. Dots go inside until no white shows.
A doughnut with dot sprinklesPink, blue and yellow. Draw two rings. Pink fills the space between them and the others are sprinkles.
A dump truck with a load of dotsBlue and orange. Draw a truck with an empty bed. The child piles dots in the back until it is full.
A fish bowl filled with blue around two orange fishBlue and orange. Draw the bowl. Two orange dots go in first as fish, then blue all around them.
A gumball machine with a globe full of every colorEvery color in the box. Draw a circle on a square stand. Each dot inside the circle is one gumball.
A pizza with red and yellow dot toppingsRed and yellow. Draw a big circle cut into slices. Red dots are the toppings and yellow fills the rest.
A rain cloud with blue drops falling under itBlue. An adult draws the cloud. The child dots rain below it, as many drops as they like.
A sun with a yellow middle and a ring of orange dotsYellow and orange. Draw one circle. Yellow fills it and a ring of orange dots goes around the outside.
A tall jar filled with dots to the lidPurple. Draw a tall jar. Dots stack up from the bottom until they reach the lid.
A treetop filled with green over a drawn trunkGreen and red. An adult draws a trunk with a cloud shape on top. Green fills it and red dots are apples.
An ice cream cone with scoops made of dotsPink and yellow. Draw only the cone. Each scoop is a clump of dots above it, one color per scoop.
Three balloons, each filled with its own colorRed, yellow and blue. Draw three ovals with strings. One color fills each oval.
Dot a pattern 12
A border of dots around the edge of the paperOrange. Dots walk around all four edges until they meet where they began. The middle stays empty.
A checkered blanket with a dot in every other squareRed and blue. Rule a grid of big squares. One color skips a square and the other fills the gaps.
A flower made of one dot with six around itYellow and pink. One yellow dot. Six pink dots go around it, each one touching the middle.
A line that changes color every three dotsOrange, green and purple. Three dots of one, three of the next, in a curving line across the page.
A necklace of dot beads on a drooping stringPink, purple and yellow. Draw a U-shaped string. Beads go along it, one color after another.
A page of stripes, one color per stripeRed, yellow, green and blue. Rule the page into four tall strips. One color fills each strip.
A rainbow made of six arches of dotsRed, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Six pencil arches. One color follows each arch.
A target with one middle dot and two rings around itRed, yellow and blue. One dot in the center, a ring around it, then a wider ring in the next color.
A triangle of rows: four dots, then three, two and oneBlue. A row of four at the bottom. Each row above has one fewer and sits in the gaps.
A winding road of dots from one corner to the otherGreen. Draw a wavy pencil path. One dot sits on the path, then the next one touching it, to the end.
Mountains of dots going up and down a zigzagGreen and purple. An adult draws a zigzag. One color climbs each slope and the other comes down.
Red, blue, red, blue along a drawn lineRed and blue. An adult rules one long line and dots the first four. The child carries the pattern on.
Animals from dots 12
A bee of three yellow dots with drawn stripes and wingsYellow. Three dots touching in a row. Pen stripes, two loops for wings and a dotted path behind.
A caterpillar of six dots with drawn legs and feelersRed and green. A red dot for the head and five green ones behind it. An adult adds legs with a pen.
A flock of chicks, each one a yellow dotYellow and orange. Each yellow dot is a chick. An orange dot beside it is the beak, or draw one.
A giraffe covered in orange spotsOrange. An adult draws a giraffe outline. The child gives it spots from the neck down to the feet.
A peacock with a fan of dots behind a small drawn bodyBlue, green and purple. Draw a small bird. Rows of dots fan out behind it, a new color each row.
A school of fish, each dot with a drawn tailOrange and blue. Orange dots in a loose group. An adult adds a V tail and an eye to each one.
A snake of dots coiled into a spiralGreen and yellow. Start in the middle and wind outward, colors in turn. The last dot is the head.
A spider hanging from a drawn threadPurple. One dot at the end of a drawn thread. An adult adds eight legs and two eyes when it is dry.
A turtle with a shell packed with dotsGreen and yellow. Draw a dome with a head and four feet. Dots fill the shell like tiles.
An octopus with eight legs of dotsPurple. Draw a round head. Each of the eight legs is a curving line of dots.
Ants marching to a drawn picnicRed. Three dots touching make one ant. Line the ants up toward a drawn sandwich.
Ladybugs on a leaf, each bug one red dotRed and green. An adult draws a big leaf. Red dots land on it, and a pen adds heads and spots when dry.
Seasons and holidays 12
A birthday cake with a dot flame on every candleYellow and pink. Draw a cake with a candle for each year of the child. One yellow dot lights each.
A cherry tree in blossom, with pink dots on bare branchesPink. An adult draws a trunk and branches. Pink dots cluster at the tips of the branches.
A decorated tree with dot ornamentsGreen, red and yellow. Draw a tall triangle. Green dots fill it, then red and yellow go on top when dry.
A fall tree with leaves in three colors, some of them fallingRed, orange and yellow. Draw a bare tree. Dots fill the branches and a few drop to the ground.
A heart filled with red and pink dotsRed and pink. Draw a heart as big as the page allows. Fill it, keeping the dots inside the line.
A pumpkin filled with orange dotsOrange and green. Draw a wide pumpkin. Orange fills it and one green dot on top is the stem.
A string of holiday lightsEvery color in the box. Draw one looping line. A dot hangs on it every finger width, colors in turn.
A wreath of green dots with red dot berriesGreen and red. Trace a plate for the ring. Green dots go around it and three red ones sit together.
An egg with three bands of dotsPink, yellow and blue. Draw a big egg with three bands across it. Each band gets its own color.
Fireworks bursting out from one middle dotRed, blue and yellow. One dot in the middle. Lines of dots shoot out from it like spokes.
Snow falling over a drawn houseBlue. An adult draws a small house at the bottom. Dots fall all over the sky and pile up on the roof.
Strawberries built from three red dots eachRed and green. Three red dots in a triangle make one berry. A green dot on top is the cap.
Counting and letters 12
A big number with that many dots beside itRed and blue. Draw the numeral and fill it in red. Then press that many blue dots next to it and count.
A circle, a square and a triangle traced in dotsRed, yellow and blue. An adult draws the three shapes. Dots follow each outline, one color per shape.
A clock face with a dot at every hourPurple. Trace a plate and write 1 to 12 around it. A dot goes beside every number.
A letter hunt: dot every A in two rows of lettersYellow. An adult writes two rows of mixed letters. The child dots only the letter they are looking for.
A name in dots, one dot on every pencil circlePurple. An adult writes the name large, as rows of small pencil circles. One dot covers each circle.
A staircase of dots: one, then two, then threeOrange. A single dot, then a column of two beside it, then three, up to five.
A ten frame with a dot in each boxGreen. Rule ten boxes in two rows of five. Count out loud as each box gets its dot.
A traced hand with one dot on each fingertipPink. Trace the child's hand. One dot goes on each fingertip, counted from one to five.
Dice faces from one dot to sixRed. Rule six squares. The first gets one dot, the next gets two, and so on up to six.
Dominoes with dots on each halfBlue. Draw a long box split in two. The child picks how many dots go on each side.
The first letter of a name, drawn big and filled with dotsBlue. An adult draws the letter in fat outline. Dots fill it from the top to the bottom.
Three baskets sorted by colorRed, yellow and blue. Mark each drawn basket with one starter dot. The child adds five more of the same.
How it works
A dot marker leaves one round dot with each press, always the same size. These dot marker art ideas build pictures out of that: a shape to fill, a pattern to carry on, an animal, a holiday or a number.
Read the full guide
Dot a pattern: the adult starts, the child carries on
An adult rules one long line and dots the first four, red, blue, red, blue. The child carries the pattern on. A necklace of beads along a drooping string and a line that changes color every three dots work the same way.
Draw outlines at least as wide as a hand, so there is room inside for more than one dot.
Add pen details such as legs, beaks and tails after the dots are dry.
Tape the corners of the paper to the table so it stays put under a press.
Questions and answers
What can you make with dot markers?
Pictures built from single dots: a caterpillar of six in a row, a flower of one dot with six around it, a rainbow of six arches, a pumpkin filled in orange. The list has 60, in five groups of 12.
What are easy dot marker ideas for toddlers?
The ones under Fill the shape. An adult draws one big outline, such as an apple, a tall jar or a doughnut, and the child presses dots inside it. Nothing has to line up.
Do you need printables for dot marker art?
No. Every idea here starts from lines an adult can draw by hand: a circle, a tree, a row of boxes. The hint under each idea says what to draw and which colors to set out.
How do you use dot markers for counting?
Give each dot a number to say out loud. Dice faces run from one dot to six, a ten frame takes ten, and a birthday cake gets one yellow flame dot for each year of the child.