Who doesn’t like to stick their fingers in paint? While there may be some people who cannot stand the idea of getting dirty, kids love finger painting. Most parents are used to getting an entire page of grayish-brown sludge smeared in circles when their children finger paint, and while these are certainly masterpieces, there are so many other things that kids can do with their hands and finger paint! Try finger printing autumn trees during the fall season! If you want to try this, make sure you have the following materials:
-thick, white paper
-finger paint
-clean hands!
Step One: Set out a sheet of thick, white paper for each child. Thicker paper works best because the finger paint is less likely to bleed through the paper. There are many ways to avoid this. If you only have thin paper, make sure you cover your work area with newspapers. The paint may still bleed through, but it will not get on the table! You can also attach thin white paper to a piece of similarly sized cardboard to give it a solid backing. Office supply stores also carry a wide variety of paper in different thicknesses. Tag board and construction paper work well, but they have different surfaces which will make each painting look different. Confer with your child about what he or she would like their paper to look and feel like!
Step Two: Bring out the finger paint! You can find finger paint at craft supply stores. Make sure that what you buy is, in fact, finger paint. Others paints can stain the skin or clothing. Look for non-toxic paints.
Step Three: Show your children how to make autumn trees with their hands! First, use brown finger paint and apply it to the palm of your hand and up your fingers. Press your hand onto your white piece of paper. This handprint will be the trunk of your tree. You can also use only your fingers (instead of you entire palm) to make several different smaller trunks. Roll fingers around or connect trunks together to make a variety of trunk sizes. If possible, wash your hands after doing this portion of the trees so that the paint colors do not mix.
Step Four: Using the fingerprint pad portion of your fingers, make leaves on your tree. Use different colors of finger paint, like yellow, orange, red, and green. Do not be afraid to mix the colors! Think of the colors on autumn leaves. Make sure each trunk has a substantial amount of leaves. Each fingerprint represents one leaf. Fill up each tree so that you have an entire forest of beautiful autumn trees! You can even put fingerprints on the ground to represent the fallen leaves. As a finishing touch, add a blue sky, but make sure to leave some white space to represent the clouds! You now have a completed finger painted masterpiece! Hang the paintings in a child’s room or on the refrigerator for all to see.
