Toddler Art Class: Painting on Foil

Shiny, happy paintings add an interesting texture element.

Art Project: Painting on Foil
Supplies:
aluminum foil
paint (we used regular tempera)
brushes
containers for paint
water to wash brushes between colors (optional)

Book:
  Mouse paint / Walsh, Ellen Stoll

(not the best book-to-project match, but I did give the kids three colors of paint to mix and play with.)



 What Kids Do: 
--paint onto smooth foil. 

 --paint on crinkled foil.

 --paint all the way to the edges and every bit in between (I am personally quite fond of the teeny green spot on the painting below).

 --Paint with their hands.

 --Paint their hands!

Hindsight Tip:  If you give kids a bit of water to "rinse their brushes" the water is fair game to add to a painting.  This makes for pretty sloppy tabletops.  It might be worth it to just let them get muddy paint colors and wash the brushes yourself when the whole class is finished.

 Variations to try: Try fingerpainting on foil instead of using brushes!

Adult Challenge:  Big hands off the art!  (If you want to try your own hand at painting on foil, I'm more than happy to provide you with materials, but please, let your child discover the joy of this project with as little "help" and direction from you as possible.