This activity was inspired by MaryAnne from Mama Smiles. She has lots of great ideas for mess-free finger painting. I added a Montessori-inspired color mixing and matching activity to the mess-free finger painting.
Starting the Mess-Free Finger Painting and Color Mixing Activity (18 Months Old)
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Resources:
- Free Printable Montessori Color Tablets (Color Matching Cards) from Montessori Album (the free ones in the video aren’t available any longer)
- Washable Tempera Paint
- Colored Duct Tape
- Montessori Services Basket
Montessori-Inspired Mess-Free Finger Painting and Color Mixing
This activity works well for older babies (minus the color tablets), toddlers, and preschoolers. Older children (and adults!) could have fun with the finger painting, too. It’s very easy to prepare, appealing, and a fun way for children to experience process art. It’s also a hands-on introduction to color mixing.
We simply used a Ziploc freezer bag with a white paper below it to help the colors stand out, washable tempera paint, and a basket with three color tablets (according to the colors used for color mixing). This time, we used red, yellow, and orange. At other times, we’ll use yellow, blue, and green or blue, red, and purple.
See Mama Smiles’ Mess-Free Art for Kids for more ideas of ingredients to use for mess-free finger painting.
Montessori-Inspired Mess-Free Finger Painting and Color Mixing – Video
My daughter, Christina, and 18-month-old granddaughter (Christina’s niece), Zoey, had fun showing the activity with both the finger painting and color matching.
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I am so honored to have inspired an activity on your blog!
Thanks for a lovely mess-free post for color mixing! Fun! Thanks for also linking up at “A Little Bird Told Me” Wednesday link party. You have been featured on Mama’s Happy Hive blog! 🙂