Fingerpainting Questions

[August Mom]

Thanks to JoJo's Circus, DS really wants to fingerpaint. We have the Crayola Color Wonder fingerpaints and he enjoys those, but he wants to make handprints. Anyway, I looked at Michaels and really had no idea what kind of paint I should get or how I should set things up after I have the paint. Any advice? Will the paint wash out of clothes? Oh, and what kind of paper do you use? TIA

[luvbeinmama]

LOL! You can have him paint with just about anything, on just about anything! My kids have painted t-shirts with handprints, and they love putting handprints in their art. Look for a kids paint that says washable on it. Those work better in the laundry dept. Get some newsprint, or something like that (cheap). My MIL suggests going to your local paper and asking for the endrolls. Dress him in something you don't mind ruining. Do you have old t-shirts you or dh don't wear anymore? Those make decent paint-shirts. Oh, and set up outside where you can just wash the paint off the concrete with a hose!

HTH a little.

[lisams]

I got a set at Target in the art/school supply area - it's actually by Elmer's (I thought that was kind of odd!) but it does clean up well and comes with three primary colors which I think is cool so she can mix them to make other colors instead of having them already mixed! We got a pad of paint paper at Target in the same section. I checked out Michaels, and they were way overpriced for both the paint and paper. What I do is tape the piece of paper to a large plastic serving tray (that I also got at Target :-)) and lay an old towel under the tray. I usually just take her shirt off. Something fun we did was mix in some shaving cream. To make cleaning up fun I sometimes give her a bowl of suds after and just playing in those gets her hands clean, then I just wipe her off. Just be careful of wood that isn't sealed - we have a few light stains on our table that are slowly wearing off. Have fun!!

HTH!
Lisa

[22tango]

If you're not quite ready to fingerpaint with real paints (although you can find them washable and non-toxic), use PUDDING!!! You can use food coloring and let him have fun. Doesn't matter if he eats it!! :D

[MelissaTC]

We have some crayola washable finger paints that I got at a local teacher supply store. I also bought finger paint paper since he likes to load up the paper with the paint and some of the other papers can't handle all that paint without bleeding, etc..

Matthew loves to finger paint too. Damn that JoJo! ;)

[AngelaS]

Crayola makes some awesome washable kids paints. I always squirt a good squirt of dishsoap into the paints to make them VERY washable and they have never stained. :D

[leanng]

My DS (22 months) decided he wanted me to let him watch JoJo's Circus while I showered instead of TiVo'd Sesame Street. However, fingerpainting must have been discussed/shown because I came out of the shower a mere 5-10 minutes later to find a disaster. DS had opened the fridge (didn't know he could do that), gotten out the egg carton, opened it to get at least 3 eggs. He took the eggs into teh living room, cracked them open and was busy smushing them all around on my carpet when I found him. I, amazingly, kept my cool and asked him what in the world he was doing to which he replied 'egg painting'.

Needless to say, no more JoJo in this house. :)

LeAnn
Mom to Alex 11/12/02

[lisams]

OMG, that is too funny (sorry but it made me laugh, "egg painting", that's pretty clever!!) You better be careful, sounds like your little guy is an excellent observer! I would have to agree about no more JoJo for him!!

Lisa