Color Mixing / No Mess Finger Painting
The basics
Finger painting is a great sensory activity for preschoolers! But some days, this momma just doesn’t have the mental capacity to supervise and clean up the mess that accompanies it. And for those days, no-mess finger painting is the perfect activity! All you need is a ziplock bag, tape, and finger paint.
Start out by adding a few drops of finger paint to your ziplock bag. Try to space the paint out quite a bit so that it doesn’t immediately run together. Next, tape your plastic bag to the table. (If you’re worried about your child opening the ziplock, fold it over before taping it down so that the opening isn’t visible from above.) When working with paint, I usually tape the entirety of each side down to ensure my little one can’t easily lift the bag.
Now let your child move the paint around by pressing down on the plastic bag and moving the paint around with their fingers. For the most part, that’s it! You’ve created a very easy, sensory bag that allows your child to finger paint without actually touching the paint. And bonus - cleanup is a breeze!
Make it themed
This activity can easily be themed to match any seasonal colors or holidays. We like to make ours themed by printing out a picture to place underneath the ziplock bag, and then choosing coordinating paint colors to go with it. Right now, we’re in back to school mode so we chose a picture of a backpack, apple and school bus. (You can download ours, here). Then, we used primary colors that coordinate with each item for our paint. If you choose to add a picture, be sure to tape the picture to the table as well. Then you’ll lay your ziplock filled with paint on top of the picture and tape the ziplock down at that point.
You could easily do this activity with orange paint and a picture of a pumpkin, or pastel paint colors on a picture of an easter egg! It’s a simple enough activity that can easily be adapted to any holiday!
Step it up
Color Mixing
One of my favorite parts of this activity, is that it makes a great science lesson for preschoolers. This week, the science is what we focused on with my kids. We’ve been reviewing colors! And we chose to use primary colors to finger paint with. Naturally, the colors will start to mix, and we were able to talk about color mixing. My kids watched as their red, yellow, and blue paints combined to create orange, green, and purple!
Color Matching
Another simple addition to this activity is turning it into a color matching activity. Cut out little pieces of paper, or find small manipulatives/toys that match the paint colors you used. Allow your child to take the items and place them on the corresponding paint color. If you have small beads or colored noodles, you can actually put them inside the sensory bag and allow your child to move the items over to the correct paint color as they’re finger painting.
As always, be sure to supervise your child in case the ziplock rips. And always be extra cautious if your child is using any small pieces that could be put in their mouth. But otherwise, have fun! And enjoy this simple, but educational activity!
Cheers,
Meg
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
