Kids Art: Reflections on Painting

I feel we have been in a bit of a rut with our painting lately. Immy loves painting with acrylics or watercolours (well, our version with food colouring) and cotton buds at her easel. This process also typically involves also painting her hands (and her arms if they are uncovered) at some stage. While I have no problem with this repetition, she is learning through the process after all, I feel part of my role is to introduce her to knew opportunities for experimentation. So when I was reflecting on this situation, I was fairly certain that the first component of her painting which she wouldn’t mind me changing was the surface she was painting upon.

Today I offered her some nice, shiny alfoil to paint on. She started out making all manner of coloured spots and blobs and the foil responded with a soft crinkly sound each time the cotton bud hit the surface. This went on for quite some time… dot dot dot.
Then (as usual) the hands came into play. She would paint a hand and then splodge it repetitively across the foil, increasing the sound level of the crinkling as she went.
Finally she began painting a series of soft lines at the top of the page, these she spontaneously told me formed “a rainbow.”
This simple shift, a change of surface, was enough to capture the creative imagination of a toddler. I shall be seeking out more reflective surfaces for us to paint on to continue this experimentation – pie tins, a mirror and a window immediately come to mind. Any other ideas?

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6 Comments

  1. MommyTopics.com says:

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  2. Teacher Tom says:

    Painting on foil is a gratifying experience.

    We also paint on sandpaper, bubble wrap, concrete, wood, tile, fabric . . . Well, pretty much anything we can lay our brushes (or hands!) on.

    I think my favorite is to put foil on a hot plate, then "paint" on it with crayons — the fluid, meltingness of it is addictive! And the encaustic monoprints we take drawings are as beautiful as anything hanging in a museum.

  3. What a neat activity! Looks like some beautiful art was created also =)

  4. Cool and so much fun.

    What about stretching glad wrap or similar clear drawing surface over a mirror? Draw your reflections?

  5. Love this idea! And all the other suggestions. You've inspired me to do some window painting with the kids!

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