Ok, crayons and play dough have been in use for a long time now in our house. Sticker books are pretty popular too. But paints are a new level of artiness for us!
The first time I tried out our new (non-toxic) paints with my daughter, she really just wanted to watch me paint. And still, I was amazed how quickly paint got transferred to objects which were not the paper. And, in the same vein, it has taken me several times painting to remember that yes, I actually need a smock too – even when using the paint with water books!
By the second time the paints came out, I had more of a programme in mind: what we could do, and an idea on how to use the paints. Most of these ideas are pretty basic, and things which you may have tried in primary school many years ago, like me. Nonetheless, it did take a bit of remembering for me to come up with this little list!
- Finger painting / hand printing – I resisted this initially, because of the mess, but it was less messy than I imagined. Finger painting didn’t really produce much of an exciting result, but the hand prints in different colours looked pretty nice!
- Potato printing – I remember this activity from my school days (mainly because it was one of the few times I forgot to bring my smock into art). At home, we just cut a potato in half and did some nice coloured stamping with that. Of course you can make shapes, but the potato can be pretty slippery to hold, and not so good for those with sensitive skin.
- Butterflies – Dot some nice, colourful splotches on one side of the paper and fold it over – and voila, there’s your butterfly. Was reminded of this activity on a tv show the other day!
So three really simple ideas – things you probably remember from your early days, but maybe, like me, had forgotten about!
Enjoy your painting!
walk and cook 
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