Infant Toddler Finger Paint, Classroom Safe Painting For Kids

By Spramani Elaun

Yes infants and toddlers love to paint! And yes you can actually introduce them to some very basic painting skills. I host many mommy and me style art activities year round, and painting is the most popular classes. Painting with infants and toddlers is more like discovery and exploratory process-based painting. They are going through a process of understanding what is happening around them.

There are five things to consider when setting-up infants & toddlers to paint:

Safe Paints
Paint Colors
Washable Paint
Art Space
Timing
Art Supplies (Materials

1. Safe Paints

You will want to only use safe non-toxic paints designed for infants and toddlers. Do not use adult grade paints. Artist paints have harmful chemicals that might go into their mouth by accident.

So what are good paints for infants and toddlers to use? You could start with making homemade paints with fruits, veggies, herbs. You could use outside dirt or mud from your own pack yard. There are plenty of commercial preschool grade finger paints. Tempera paint is a common washable paint found in most preschool art stores. Artist watercolor paint can be used, be sure it’s student grade. Acrylic safe non-toxic paint can be used if you want to to save a long-term archive, like hand or foot print of your infant or toddler.

2. Paint Color choices

What are good color choices for infants and toddlers? Light pigment colors are a great choice. The reason I recommend this is because infants and toddlers are just experimenting and exploring. They have no idea dark pigments like black, dark blues, violet and dark green will over power all light pigments. This kind of knowledge is learned after lots of paint play happens. I use only light pigments in my palettes with the little ones. This leaves the artwork looking bright and not a dark gray mass.

3. Washable Paint

Toddler paints spread on clothes and fabrics. You will want to use washable paints for infants and toddlers because this activity is super messy. It is easy for children to spill and get paint on their clothes. Most paints for children are usually washable, however I would never count on that with nice clothes. Get into the habit of using play clothes. I recommend having an outfit that’s for getting messy and you can use all the time for paint play. When my young students first come to my classes they usually get pretty messy, then I tell their parent you should come pack in this exact same outfit next class!

4. Where to paint

Art should be hands-on, which means it can get messy. The goal is to set up an environment for exploring, as well as containing messes. So you want to set up this environment for splashing, smearing, and dripping. Children at this age are getting fine-motor-movement, but spill often! Set-up outdoors, or in an area that can handle lots of spills. A good place floors that can be mopped up, or hosed off. When you spend the time creating the perfect environment, you won’t have to worry about messes.

5. Timing

Infants and toddlers are curious explorers with short attention spans. It’s important to keep this in mind when setting up the art environment. Your child’s art environment can have a positive impact on how they appreciate art.

Veggies can make natural safe paint for kids

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