Finger Painting

When I was a kid, I loved painting and drawing. Finger painting, though, was the best. Getting my fingers all goopy with paint and making a masterpiece was so much fun.  

A couple of months ago, I tried to see how Ginny would respond to finger painting. She didn't understand it in the least. It just didn't go well. I figured that developmentally she just wasn't ready.

Today, in the hopes that Ginny would be able to finally enjoy it, we tried finger painting again.  This time she seemed to enjoy it. She still doesn't "get it" but she did have fun with the whole endeavor. 

While my baby girl was down for a nap, I prepped things for the experience. I figured if we were going to do this, we might as well make it an art project. Basically, I decided it would be a great time to make some art pieces for her grandparents since Grandparent's Day is on Sunday.  So, the first thing I did was to line Ginny's high chair tray with newspaper.   Then I got 2 pieces of construction paper. Using blue paint tape, I put the word "love" on it. Well, to be more accurate, I put "L....V..E".  I couldn't figure out how to put the letter "O" with tape. I figured I could etch in that letter once Ginny was done painting.**  

One piece of the construction paper with the blue tape set to go.

Once Ginny was up from her nap we were ready to go. I put Ginny in her high chair ready to make a big mess (i.e., naked baby!!).

"What's going on, Mommy?" 

Then, I put one color of paint down on the construction paper at a time and let Ginny explore. She did need some help. I needed to show her how to move the paint by example and by holding her hands and moving them over the paint.  She seemed to love that part the most. I soon discovered that her favorite color to play with was red.

Exploring the paint and moving it on the paper.

Having fun playing with the paint in her hands.

We finished both projects, and I decided that she needed to do a 3rd project. A project that we could put on the fridge.  Since her hands were full of paint (and most of her too), I created 2 sets of hand prints on paper and let her play with some paint for a bit.  She got tired of the paint after a while and was more interested in tasting it.  Thank goodness the finger paints are non-toxic. 

The fun part (sarcasm) was cleaning her up. Boy, was she a mess, but it brought a smile to my face. Once the projects dried a bit, I took off the blue tape. I'm so pleased with the results and hope her grandparents enjoy them as much as she did making them.

The finished projects! Two "Loves" for grandparents
and one project to hang at home. 

**Please note that this was not an original idea. It was an idea I saw on Pinterest using paint canvas.  I did test to make sure the blue tape would work with the construction paper. It did, although not perfectly.