Last week I wanted to get a few things done and tried to think of something that would keep the lil ones’ attention for awhile. I thought I would let them finger paint. I thought because they hadn't done it in a while, they would be consumed with painting and I could get what I wanted done. I don’t know why I thought this would be an unsupervised activity, because it SO wasn’t.
I set it up outside on the deck. Used foam squares to cover the deck. Taped the paper to the foam squares. Had everyone sitting down in a circle around the paint to minimize the spill area. Sounded like a good plan.
Wait there is that word again – plan. You can’t plan with kids. Your plan is ALWAYS going to thrown out the window and it will require some quick thinking. I will never learn this, I will continue to TRY to make plans.
I think this plan would have worked without Makaela. The boys did seem to keep their mess on the squares. Have to give them some credit! I think I need to let them play with paint more often, because they had to dip their entire finger in the paint. Then they kept wanting to wash them off. I guess they aren't messy boys. I tried giving them a small container to wash their fingers off, but that got messy fast dripping water everywhere. Then they kept wanting something to dry their hands off with. Stressful!!!
I could have also put little amounts of the paint on a plate or something to solve the entire finger in the paint, but we were out of paper plates. 
Now Makaela, she did the same dipping her entire finger in the paint and letting it drip everywhere. She wasn’t really worried that her finger was covered in paint. She seems to like being messy. She also was more interested in “helping” Ian, than painting her own pictures.
When she stood up; I thought, The End, no more painting. The last thing I needed was little footprints on our deck. So off she went to the bath. (When John heard about all of this, he was VERY worried about the deck. She did get one little spot on the deck and he was really upset. I explained if came out of her clothes, it will come off the deck. Oh and you had to REALLY look to even find it! Don’t think we will be on the deck the next time.)
The boys were an easy clean up, wash their hands, done. Makaela had paint everywhere, so we had a mid-day bath.
After I cleaned her up, then I cleaned up the bathroom- see the red paint on the tile- and then outside. Oh and soak her clothes in oxy clean; hoping the RED paint would come out.(By the way it did.)
Since for some reason the finger paint I bought never seems to dry I had to throw away their pictures a few days later, but used the camera to get some digital pictures to save. (In order- Ian, Eli, and Makaela)
Such beautiful artwork, for such a stressing 10 minutes!
On another note, I’ve seen on Pinterest “mess free finger painting”, some comments talked about how finger paint is supposed to be messy. I totally understand, but after today I’m thinking the mess free way is looking AWESOME! I got nothing of what I needed to do done and spent even more time cleaning than they spent painting! Lessons for today: Finger Paint is for my 21/2 years old and up, Again- Plans will be changed, Oxy Clean does remove red finger paint, and Finger Painting is NOT an Unsupervised activity!!!
Stay tune for some mess free painting after I get over this mess!
