Violeta was a little over a year when I finally let her loose in some finger paints. I had been wanting to do it for a while, but it’s a messy affair and requires some smart planning to not ruin your home! (This was six months ago now! Somehow I’m always trying to catch up to my tiny human.) She wasn’t walking yet, but she was crawling fast!
I decided she should have her first fun with paints on our rooftop. I love our roof. It is always warm and sunny up there, and I feel like we have it mostly to ourselves. I rarely ever see any neighbors on the roof. It’s usually just myself and the baby and sometimes our neighbors’ cleaning ladies. Those ladies are so sweet to us, always commenting on how grown up Violeta is and always so kind to me when I struggle to understand them because they speak so fast! They have been great language teachers because they always repeat themselves for me and don’t give up on me. These ladies don’t speak English, so giving up on my Spanish and just switching to English isn’t an option! They are determined to communicate with me and the baby, and I really appreciate it.
Our big sunny rooftop has a mini labyrinth of hallways where different apartments have laundry/storage rooms, there is a section of cages for each apartment where you can line dry your clothes, and then there is a sink area where you can hand wash clothes. I had never seen such a functional rooftop before living in this apartment, but apparently this is very common throughout Latin America. The sink area is the only bit of shade on the whole roof and thus the perfect area for our painting project.
I rolled out some craft paper in the shady area and taped it to the ground so Violeta could have a large area to play with the paint and also not get sunburned. I put some red and blue paint on a little plate for her and let her play with it. She immediately put paint all over her face. It took her a little while to understand she could put the paint on the paper. Who knows really what she understood, but she started to engage with the paint, and I could tell she was having fun with it. She also started ripping up the paper I had so carefully taped down to the ground. Every artist has to develop her own technique right!?
Since we were making this big paint mess, I also wanted to take the opportunity to make some cute thank you cards for her first birthday party that had just passed. I had tons of party decorations leftover that I also wanted to re-use in her thank you cards if possible. I just hate trashing decor. Re-using and up-cycling any party gear makes me feel better about the planet. I used some leftover heart confetti and party tinsel in her cards. I taped the confetti on the front of the cards and had her make a handprint on top so that it left a negative heart in the middle of her cute little hand. These little babies grow up so fast, so personally I can’t get enough little handprints and footprints. I really had a lot of fun making these little cards with my tiny painter.
So if you are wanting to paint with your baby but avoiding it because of the mess, just go outside and do it where it won’t matter. Strip that cutie down to her diaper and embrace the messiness. We took our paint-covered cutie and put her directly into the bathtub. And yes your baby will put that paint right into his or her mouth! My husband had a really hard time watching that! Just make sure it is non-toxic finger paint, and you will be all set. It’s all part of the fun! Happy painting babies!
💜
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