Fingerpainting

Well, since I was up at 5:30 this morning anyway due to an early riser, I decided to be a little productive. I've discovered that Josie uses her food as fingerpaint most times at the table, so I wanted to try and see if she would actually use paint to create her pictures. We've been trying different art supplies lately too, after I got a deal on a bunch at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. Josie runs to the art bin and bangs on it every morning, but it's because she wants to eat the crayons. Give her a crayon and you will find the top bitten off shortly, and then little pieces of crayons all over the floor. We have been coloring with crayons and colored pencils, so she gets the idea. The next thing to try was paint.

So, I found a recipe* for finger paint online.
It seems to start out ok, but it quickly got really clumpy.
Our entire experience was like painting with modeling clay. But Josie didn't mind. She really got into it.
I was impressed that she didn't really try and eat it, as she does the waxy crayons.
But, true to form, when she gets tired, all food goes on her face.
The same applies for fingerpaint apparrently.

At least we've begun to get the idea across that cleaning up after herself is a good thing.

But foot washing? No Josie, it's those hands and face that need some attention!

Rightyo into the tub you go.

And down for a nap.

I glanced at the clock as Josie snoozed. 8:14 AM. All this before quarter-past-eight in the morning? Oh my. No wonder I'm in need of a solid nap (or two) each day!

*Original Fingerpaint

Ingredients

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

Directions

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.

After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You're ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.