Reverse Finger Painting

Last week I posted ten tips for fingerpainting, and one of my readers suggested a great follow on activity – thanks Kate!  As promised we gave it a go.  I guess it’s technically a very basic lithograph, but we just called it reverse finger painting.  Here’s what we did.

Lithographs were originally done on a smooth stone or metal surface so we began hunting for something suitable.  After ruling out a few potential suspects around the kitchen, we settled on baking trays.  To aid with cleanup we covered the trays with aluminium foil, spreading it out as smoothly as possible.  (Wrinkles in the foil will show up in the paintings).  I figured that the edges of the trays would help to contain the mess.

We put a big blob of paint into the middle of the tray, and I spread it out smoothly and evenly with a wide, flat paintbrush (a bit challenging for toddlers).  Then my daughter drew a picture directly into the paint with her fingers.  She just LOVED it!  When she was happy with her artwork, we carefully put a piece of paper down over it and gently smoothed it over the paint.  My three year old was so surprised to see the “reverse” image on the page when we lifted it up.  She was hooked after the first print.  I just respread the paint between images, and she happily painted (or unpainted…?!) the afternoon away.

I must admit this activity exceeded my expectations.  It was less messy than traditional finger painting, and when we were finished all I had to do was peel off the alfoil and throw it away.  It was also more successful than I anticipated.  It certainly held my three year old’s attention, and the pictures turned out very well.  Interestingly, she wasn’t at all worried about working with a single paint colour.  She never once said, “Mummy I need green for the leaves…”  I think that because she wasn’t overwhelmed by colour choices she was able to focus on shapes.

We really had a fun time together with this activity.  I would definitely recommend that you give reverse finger painting a try with your kids!  And you know I want to hear about it if you do…