Marble painting and finger painting. Then a bath. ;)

These pictures are from last year but I thought I'd share them now anyway. One of my goals with this blog has been to post all the pictures/projects I've done with kids (including these two cuties) over the past couple of years. I wish I had the energy to catch up as I have lots more to post. Teaching can be very exhausting and most days I have trouble getting the creative juices flowing after a busy day of art.

My wife and I have two grandchildren: Camryn will be 5 this year and Reese will be 3. These pictures capture their first finger painting experience.

When I taught kindergarten (which I did for 8 years) I purchased two large plastic finger painting trays. That was over 10 years ago and we still use them today. I brought them home (borrowed them from the current kindergarten teachers) and used them with the two girls. We also did a marble painting activity, which the girls absolutely loved.

As you can see, they are wearing t-shirts but you will soon see that the shirts didn't keep the paint off them. Reese especially managed to paint her arms and feet as well. I hadn't planned on a bath as well but that followed soon afterward.

We started out with a little marble painting. We used the lids of boxes which were perfect for marble painting. I just use the primary colors and keep adding marbles one at a time. I add a different color and the girls "paint" until the desired effect is reached. Reese (the youngest) really gave those marbles a ride. Camryn was more graceful with them. Hers stayed in the box. Reese enjoyed seeing the marbles fly out of the box as much as she did seeing the lines they made in the paint.

After the adventure in marble painting, we went on to the finale: finger painting. The pictures tell the story. Reese was captured by the feel of the paint on her hands and watch intently as the colors mixed and moved about the tray. Camryn loved making spiral motions with her hands as she watched the look of her painting change with the direction of her hands. The girls really got into moving the paint around in the tray. I would periodically add more color (and a new colors) and sit back and watch the show. The last step was to take a blank white paper and pressed it in the trays which transferred the paint onto the paper.

My wife took the pictures (nice job Hun!) and enjoyed watching the process. I played the teacher! I don't know who had more fun (OK, they did probably.) It was a great way to make a special memory.