In this article, you may find the 5 best finger-painting recipes that will help you to develop your child’s skills in the form of a fun game.

Why it’s a good idea to do finger painting?

Finger-paining is not only a good way to spend more time with a child playing entertaining games together.

• Fine motor skills: Apart from being fun, finger-painting is a great way to develop a child’s fine motor skills. This activity embraces physical exercise involving different groups of muscles, namely, finger, hand, shoulder, neck, and back muscles. And that may be good training before a child starts writing.

• Sensory experience: During the process of finger-painting, a child uses 4 main senses, including auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, therefore, developing all of them at once!

• Color recognition: While finger-painting, a child is likelier to use a wide range of colors, influencing color and shade reception and recognition.

• Coordination: This particular activity positively affects hand-eye coordination as far as both of the skills mentioned above are involved in the simultaneous process of drawing with fingers and observing its results.

• Language development: You might have thought the painting process is done as soon as we’ve got the final art, but that’s not true! You may extend the game by discussing the picture a child drew. Ask them about the colors they used, the general idea of the painting, and why they’ve chosen it. This will develop your child’s language skills and strengthen your emotional connection.

• Feelings expression: Art is the best way to express feelings: there are no boundaries in this process. During the activity, a child may subconsciously use colors that reflect their emotions. For example, red is used in cases when one wants to show anger, and green may be used as a sign of hope. At the same time, sometimes colors are just colors, and a child may paint a red tomato just a true representation of reality.

• Stress-relieving exercise: It’s a well-known fact that art in general positively influences on the psychological and emotional condition of a person. That’s why finger painting may become a useful tool to relieve a child’s stress level.

Different ideas for finger-painting

What can be drawn with fingers? Everything! Let your child’s imagination run wild! A child can draw literally anything they want: numbers, letters, favorite animals or cartoon characters, and nature.

There is a wide range of techniques that may be used to do finger painting. As for the painting tools, a child may use fingers, sides or palms of hands, and even elbows and forearms to get the desired shapes and effects. Sometimes additional materials may also be used, such as toothbrushes that may help create impressive designs.

Methods of finger-painting

An enormous number of different methods may be used to do finger-painting. Still, this article will describe the 2 most common ones.

Materials needed: a sheet of paper, standard paints, paintbrush, finger-painting paints, and a bit of a good mood.

Average time: 25-35 minutes.

For the first method, you’ll need a bit of preparation before the finger-painting process. A child should choose any color and cover the entire piece of paper with the help of a paintbrush to create a background for the future masterpiece. After that, using fingers, your child may start painting whatever they like, for example, a tree or a flower.

Materials needed: a sheet of paper, finger-painting paints, and a bit of a good mood.

Average time: 25-35 minutes.

For the second method, a child should choose a set of colors they will use. For convenience, it would be better to open all the colors so that the aspiring artist can see them all at once. Then dip the finger into the color and apply it to the paper as if using a regular paintbrush. A child may try different application techniques, for example, making fingerprints like the Impressionists or drawing with lines. By the way, paints can also be mixed directly on paper.

Paper for finger-painting

The best types of paper suitable for finger paints are heavy papers. They work the best for this type of activity as they don’t let the paint soak through and prevent the workplace from getting too messy. It also would be nice to introduce different types of paper to your child to teach them to paint on various materials.

Moreover, there is a special finger-painting paper, designed specifically for these purposes. The key benefits of such a paper are non-absorbency and resiliency. For the sake of the easier spread of paints, do not forget to dampen the shiny side of it with a wet sponge, and after the preparation is done, a child may finally start creating.

Moreover, cardboard is also a great material that may be used to start finger painting.

Finger-paints

For finger painting, you’ll need a specific type of paint called finger paint. Its main peculiarities are thickness and usually safe composition, suiting the children. Normally, only primary colors can be mixed in the process right on the paper to get a desirable color and shade.

Other types of paint may also be used, for example, tempera paint, because it has the necessary consistency for comfortable finger painting. Tempera paint is not as thick as finger paint but also suits well for this activity and has a bigger variety of colors provided.

Do not forget to check the paint’s composition to choose only non-toxic ones. If your child has egg allergies, buy egg-free base paints.

Finger-painting with water

Materials needed: a container with warm water, cardboard of dark shades or dark chalkboard, and a bit of a good mood.

Average time: 25-35 minutes.

For the smallest artist, we suggest finger-painting with water. It would help you to avoid mess. To start finger-painting with water you’ll need a container with warm water and cardboard of dark shades. Paintings with water will be clearly visible on a dark background, and the child will be interested in the process and subsequent review of their work.

Homemade finger-paint recipes

Here are the 2 best recipes of finger paint you may try to do at home with the help of a child, diversifying the game!

Recipe 1. Cooked finger-paints

You will need:

• Cold water – 100 ml
• Boiling water - 250 ml
• oil of spearmint/wintergreen/clove
• cornstarch - 45 grams
• poster/acrylic paints (optional)

Step 1: Mix cornstarch with 40 ml of cold water in a container. After that you should stir it to get a homogeneous mass.

Step 2: Add boiling water (250 ml), and then stir quickly in order not to let lumps form. Stir till it becomes translucent and thick.

Step 3: Mix 60 ml of cold water and oil if you’ve decided to use one. This might help to make paints smell nice. Cover the mixture and wait till it becomes cool.

Step 4: Add colors to the liquid cornstarch mass a couple of drops at once in the different containers, one for each paint of a different color.

Recipe 2. Non-cook finger-paints

You will need:

• cold water - 474 ml
• white flour - 240 grams
• tempera paint

Step 1: Mix flour with water, using slow whipping movements. It is better to use a whisk in the process.

Step 2: Divide the mass into separate parts that will become colors. Put parts in different containers and after that add colors, a few drops at a time.