Finger Painting!

Not only is art something important to me, I'm a big believer in the power of art education. At less than a week old, I was dipping Ethan's hands and feet in paint to make his first piece of art. Now he's five months old, and it's time to kick this into gear!

At school two weeks ago, he made a painting of his footprints.

Our first project at home? Finger painting! Sound like a 5 month old mess?  Well, it was a well calculated controlled mess. I sat Ethan in his highchair in just a diaper. I had preset the highchair, lightly taping a few layers of paper onto the tray. I was also armed with a box of baby wipes and a camera ready to go! I'd squeeze small globs of the finger paint onto the paper, and let Ethan smear it around. Sometimes I'd run my fingers though it too to demonstrate for him (If you know of my aversion to getting finger paint on my fingers as a child, you would find this scene quite ironic!). Ultimately, he did most of the work.

So proud!

He really seemed to enjoy himself, and liked watching the colors smear around. He was really too busy smearing to put it into his mouth (although it does look like he tasted a little orange maybe?) The party was over however, when he got angry that he was not allowed to have the paint tubes. (Thank you Crayola for making the tubes with sharp corners!) I've since been told that maybe using ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles to put the paint in is a good solution. I may have to keep in mind for next time.

When painting time was officially over, it was straight into the bathtub for even more fun!

Ultimately, the whole experience was a success, and definitely worth doing with an infant. It turned out to be a great activity for us to share together, and it was something that Ethan enjoyed. It was also a great opportunity for him to experience a different texture on his tiny little fingers. He also now has some fantastic masterpieces to be so proud of....

Copyright Ethan Savko!