Finger painting with Baby

I started finger painting with Ethan when he was 5 months old. It was a perfect age to get him started, and he loved it right off the bat! (The ironic part is that as a child, I always thought that I wanted to finger paint--until of course I realized that meant that my fingers had to get messy!)

It's easy to do, and although messy, it's an easily controlled mess!

Ethan's first time finger painting at 5 months.

Set up and Go!
We paint in the highchair, stripped down to a diaper. I have a splat mat on the floor just in case! We keep a box of wipes next to us at all times (along with the camera, of course--I mean, have you met me?!)

I usually set up before putting Ethan in the high chair. I tape a few pieces of paper down to the tray and put a few blobs of paint on the paper to him to smear around. Only after the paper is ready do I put him up in the chair. When he was first learning, I'd sometimes smear my fingers around in the paint a little, just to demonstrate what to do. It didn't take long before he figured it out himself! Then, I leave it up to him to do the work! I'll add paint for him as we go along.


Does he eat the paint?
I've found most times he is really too busy smearing to put the paint in his mouth (although the paints are non-toxic just in case). I have to be careful when adding more paint because Ethan has a tendency to get upset when I don't let him have the paint tubes (the corners on the tubes are a bit sharp). I've also heard that you can put the paints in ketchup and mustard bottles from the dollar store if this is a problem. Also, if you're concerned about paint ingestion, you can use baby food (although those finished pieces would most likely need to be photographed, and then disposed of--no one wants a moldy painting!)

Clean up
We usually just use wipes to clean up, but sometimes we just jump right in the tub!

The best part?
Ethan gets to play with color, texture and artistic expression. It also helps work on fine motor skills. When we're done, he gets a piece of artwork that we hang on his bedroom wall. He looks at them a lot and we talk about what a good painter he is!

Not to mention- It's really fun, and something that we both enjoy doing together!!

Not only is this Ethan's artwork, but also the background for this blog!