Thumb Printing and Mixing Colours ~ Painted Flowers

The kids had so much fun the first time they experimented with Thumb Print Art, I thought we'd have another go. Not only is thumb printing fun, it's an easy way to produce a piece of artwork that you will be happy to have hanging on the wall.

Materials:

• paper
• paint - non toxic, washable paint for children
• paint pots -  we used plastic bowls and lids.
• paint brushes
• tissues

To start them off, I showed them some Fingerprint Poppies over at Crafty Morning, and together we talked about how the poppies were done. As they moved from the computer to their art table, the kids chatted about how they would make their own flowers - not poppies, but flowers with lots of different colours.

We encountered a slight hitch when I realised we were down to two paint colours - yellow and blue. Not a problem. As Little Miss said, Flowers often have yellow in the middle.

• Dip one thumb into the blob of yellow paint.
• Remove excess paint. That's what we used the lid for. You can use anything, as long as it's clean and kid friendly.
• Stamp a thumb print for the centre of the flower.
• Remove paint from thumb with a tissue.
• Repeat with blue paint and stamp petals around the yellow.

Only having blue and yellow was a good exercise for the kids in mixing two colours to make green. If you want to save paint, start with a small amount of blue. 

We had to keep adding lots of yellow to get the desired green colour.

• Paint the stems with a thin brush.

Little Mister painted one straight stem for each flower. Little Miss, on the other hand, painted curvy lines for stems. She was unsure what to do about the flowers at the top. I suggested lines that curved beside the other flowers, but she decided they would be floating flowers.

• Paint the grass with a thick brush.

Little Miss also added streaks of blue to the grass with her finger. She's at that stage where she always paints a sun in her pictures, too.

I love to see the creativity displayed by the kids when we paint together. It's wonderful to see how they run with an idea, adapting and changing as they see fit, and turn it into an artwork that they are proud to show off.

Same initial inspiration; two different outcomes.

Seems that Thumb Print Art is a popular painting activity. In my last post:

• lefuntz introduced me to a new author - Ed Emberley. I've only had a quick look, but his website looks promising, too.
• Sally, from Wonky Patchwork suggested another art book - Beautiful OOPS by Barney Saltzburg... Mistakes are opportunities to make something beautiful.
• Annie, from Peaches and Bees, said thumb prints make cute butterflies and bees.
• Jana, has made Sporty Fingerprint Men and Fingerprint Olaf from Frozen
• Fairlie, from Feet on Foreign Lands, told me about a fundraiser where each class made a large painting of thumbprints inside the shape of a heart.

Thanks for leaving me ideas for future thumb printing and painting sessions.

Follow Pam ~ Threading My Way's board Crafting With Kids - Games for Kids on Pinterest.

... Pam

---

Tweet