finger painting

Well what do you know...a child who hates to color will LOVE to finger paint.

My son hates to color with crayons. It will hold his interest for 3 minutes, tops. This gave me a problem because one of his homework assignments (homework in pre-school?!) is making a family tree. There is NO WAY he draw one more less color it. So I decided to give finger paints a try.

First we cut out the tree trunk out of brown construction paper. (I say we because he operated the scissors while I moved the paper around.) Then we glued the trunk on to the paper. Next I set up the area for finger painting and dressed my son in an old apron. I took a glass plate and place a dab of red, oranger, yellow and green non-toxic, washable paint. I then smeared them together until it was the size of his hand print. He then placed his hands into the paint and made hand-prints all over the top of the tree trunk until it looked liked leaves. It came out better than I had hoped.

What happened next, surprised me..."Mom can I have another piece of paper?" He decorated two large pieces of butcher paper and wanted to do more. I had to stop him in order to make dinner. I was/am beyond surprised. I expect him to ask to do it again today!

I will save the butcher paper pieces to use as one of a kind wrapping paper. I'm very tickled that I have found a creative outlet for him and one that teaches him what color combinations do. As for the family part of the tree, we are waiting on pictures from grandparents.