A day of painting - my little Monet at work

Alicia has officially finished the term at Julia Gabriel and since we've withdrawn her from classes, I decided that she should still get her weekly (at least) dose of painting and messy fun. You see, ever since we enrolled her at JG, we got rather lazy in bringing out the fingerpaints we bought for her earlier since the mentality then was that the once-a-week painting at JG was probably enough for her *guilty*.

Now that lessons have stopped, I decided that it was time to get messy at home again. :)

Art is included in my homeschooling 'curriculum' as it promotes creativity and ability to think and that's why it is an integral part of early childhood education. One important thing to note when engaging in art with a tot or a young preschooler - the process is more important than the product! :) 

One way of further engaging the tot in artistic creation is to provide different materials (and hence create different experiences) and so I've bought a new stash of art supplies for her and I will be reviewing them on my blog really soon, so stay tuned. 

In this post, Alicia's using Crayola's non-toxic, washable fingerpaints which have been sitting in the storeroom for quite awhile:

I do believe this is the old packaging and Crayola has released the product with a new look

I think the retail price is $16.90 - it's been quite awhile since I bought it

These paints are easy to use - just squeeze the paint out from the tubes into a palette or dish and the tot can get on with the painting. 

While the name of the product suggests that these are fingerpaints, you don't really have to get your tot to paint with fingers if you're worried about the mess, especially if you've just started to introduce your kid to painting and the thought of the colourful mess the kid would get into could get you hyperventilating. 

You'd be glad to know they work well with brushes too - see the bookmarks Alicia painted with a paintbrush when we were learning the letter B:

The medium chosen for doing the art pieces for the day?

HANDS. Bare hands. And fingers.

It's really ok, just keep a wet cloth on hand to clean up any spots that require immediate attention. :)

And be prepared to be part of the action too: Alicia kept insisting that I should paint alongside... and of course I did! - after taking some photos :)

Trying to dig paint out from the tube

Concentrating on rubbing her hands (filled with paint)

The creative gal who believes that art doesn't have to be done sitting down or standing up

oh will you just look at that, mummy! My hands are sooo painted!

Tell me mummy, is my nose green too?

Checking her hands for paint

Dinner time art (she asked to paint again!):

Our hands :)

Can you see a flower?

The masterpiece - painting flowers with fingers in line with the teaching of the letter F! :)