Are you looking for Finger Painting Ideas?
The best ways for children to learn is through play and their senses. With three active boys, I am always looking for new and fun activities to channel their energy! Finger painting is a great sensory activity for kids!
What is sensory play?
Sensory play is focused on activities that use the senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. One of our top sensory activities is Finger painting, as it focuses on sight and touch. It is a sensory experience that provides kids the opportunity to explore the paint and textures.
In addition, finger painting is also a great way to develop fine motor skills by strengthening the finger and small hand muscles. On top of that it is great to:
- Teach kids about colors.
- Experiment and start learning about cause and effect, if mix this and this what happens?
- Promote creativity and imagination.
You can make your own finger paint
While, you can buy finger paint at any craft store or with Amazon it does get expensive. When buying finger paint, our favorite is the the Crayola Washable Finger Paints
However, if you finger paint a lot you may want to look into making your own finger paint. Fun with Mama has a great Homemade Finger Paint Recipe:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 2.5 cups cold water
- 2 cups hot water
- Food Coloring
Method: Mix the flour and salt. Add the cold water. Beat until smooth. Gradually add the hot water and boil until clear. Beat until smooth. Divide the mixture and add the food coloring of your choice.
If you are looking for more fun activities for the kids check out our KID ADVENTURES!
Finger Painting Ideas
Slip and Slide Finger Painting
Okay, so this first finger painting idea, isn’t so much finger painting, as it is whole body painting. Be prepared, it is messy, but it kept the kids busy for almost 2 HOURS and they had a BLAST! All three boys played, including the baby.
This WON the award for keeping all three engaged and happy, making it a great sensory activity for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
What you need for Finger Painting Slip and Slide:
- Plastic Shower Curtain
- Finger Paint
- Old Clothes
- A hose
Let’s get painting! The Finger Painting Slip and Slide.
To start, I put the boys in some old clothes. If it wasn’t for the photos, I probably would have let them play in their undies for ease of cleanup.
We took the shower curtain outside along with a few bottles of finger paint, handed them each a bottle. Then I let the boys loose, literally, I handed each of them a bottle, stepped back and said have fun! They looked at each other with big goofy grins and went for it!
They sprayed the shower curtain with paint, sprayed each other with paint, rolled around in the paint; and they chased each other with paint hands.
There was laughing , yelling, giggling and screeching, as they chased each other.
Even the baby had a blast squeezing the paint through his fingers, sliding on the shower curtain and watching his brothers run around.
When we were done, the boys sprayed down the shower curtain and each other with the hose and then had a quick bath. We put the clothes through the washer and everything came clean.
For the finger paint slip and slide, we did use the Crayola Washable Finger Paints
Hand (or FOOT) Print Flowers
Alright moms, we all love those little hands and feet, why not memorialize them for a keepsake? Hand Print Flowers make a great gift and are fun for the kids to make. My older two love stamping their hands and feet, they also think it is really neat to see how much they have grown.
What you need for Finger Print Flowers:
- Canvas
- Finger Paint
- Small Paintbrush
- Sink (to wash those hands)
Let’s get painting! The Hand Print Flowers
To start pour a small amount (size of a quarter) of the finger paint onto a small plate. Take the paint brush and paint the child’s hand.
Guide their hand to the Canvas and press it flat. You will want to move quickly as kids like to start swiping their hand against the canvas as soon as it touches.
Repeat for each hand print you want to capture. You can make one for each kid using right and left hands or a flower for each child on the same canvas.
To finish the hand print flowers, follow it up with some green paint to paint the flower and leaves.
Tips for Baby Prints:
If you are working with a baby, I strongly suggest using just their foot.
Capturing a baby hand print is very challenging as they like to squeeze their hand as soon as the paint is on it.
I also suggest using an extra set of hands. It helps to have one adult hold the baby while the other paints and stamps the foot on the canvas.
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