No Mess Finger Painting

Hello everybody! Long time no post right? My apologies. Truth is, I've been mentally exhausted lately trying to get certain things in order and also, now I watch my niece overnight while my brother goes to work. So, most days I'm just happy to make it through the day and keep the kids are fed and changed regularly, know what I mean? That doesn't mean we aren't playing though, but it does mean I'm not documenting and sharing everything either.

BUT I have a free moment to share something fun we did recently. Someone sent me a link on my Facebook page to this tutorial from Baballa on mess free finger paints. I loved every part of it, especially because I am constantly stressing to keep messes to a minimum since this is my grandparent's house and not mine.

The original site is in spanish but the pictures speak for themselves (also, you can choose to translate the website and google does a pretty decent job at it too).

Well, my try at it didn't exactly turn out how I expected it to. Have a look :)

I bought some finger paints from Dollar Tree and some makeup sponges as well. The plan was to cut the sponges into squares (cubes) and submerge them into the pots of finger paints. When it's time to paint, pull out just the sponges and place them onto a piece of card stock (or, in my case, a small plastic container). The idea is that the kids will touch the sponge with their fingers and then paint pretty little fingerprint dots on their paper. 

Yeah, Right! 

My first mistake was using the makeup sponges. They were too…foamy? Even though they did absorb the paint, they were so slippery and squishy that they would slide all over the place and touch the other sponges and the colors would mix. 

Actually, my REAL first mistake was only making one set and expecting two toddlers to share. Most of the mix up happened when Josiah and Lily fought over the container and constantly wanted me to hold it on their side of the table.

I gave up on "Mess Free" right away and just stepped back and watched. Lily grabbed three of the four sponges and put them on her paper. She had fun squishing them.

Next, I pulled out a couple of porcupine balls and let them explore with them in the paint. They loved feeling the texture of the ball. Josiah rolled his around the paper for a bit and it made some interesting patterns on his painting. Lily, on the other hand, was more interested in the paint sponges and soon enough, she threw her ball at Josiah but it went behind him and got lost for a few hours.

Of course, we can't do any activity without at least ONE kid trying to taste something. Reviewing my photos from this session, I couldn't help but laugh because I realized I had captured the split second that Josiah put the ball in his mouth!

SO... In conclusion, we obviously did NOT have a mess-free paint session. But we still had lots of fun and at the end of the day that's what matters most, right? 

I would definitely still recommend this method for older children who understand how to keep the sponges from touching and know how to share (if there are more little artists painting). Give it a try and let me know how it works in your home! 

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Pinterest to keep up with Lily and Josiah!  

Linking up to: The Weekly Kids Co-op