This post is authored by Anna Reyner, a registered art therapist and licensed marriage and family therapist. Anna is a nationally recognized arts advocate that has conducted over 500 hands-on art workshops for learners of all abilities. Follow Anna’s blog at Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education.
Special Needs Application:
Foam paint is so inviting, children are always eager to get started. Of all the paints I use with children, foam paint is one I can bring out again and again with any age child and they never get tired of it. There's something magical about watching brightly colored foam spritz out of a can and pile up high on a plate! It even makes noise as you spritz in out onto a paper palette, it is the ultimate sensory experience!
Sometimes I pass out large bristle brushes and sometimes we use paper towel rags to apply the paint. Here you see four year olds applying foam paint with large chubby brushes. You can see there are white crayon scribbles underneath the paint, if you look at the finished book on the tabletop.
And here you see a 3 year old boy applying foam paint with a paper towel. He is using the paper towel as a "painting rag" instead of using a brush. Either paper towel rags or large chubby brushes works fine, and I suggest you try both ways at different times. After all, when you vary how you apply paint, you stimulate new problem solving and a variety of different fine motor skills.
Here's the finished result from the 3 year old class. In this particular application, the children were working on "Rainforest Paintings." They used large white crayons to first put down lines that represented rain (scribbles, dots and stripes) then patted foam paint on top with their paper towel rags. We used foam paint that represented the colors of the rainforest. Then, for the final layer, we used Colorations® Liquid Watercolor in bingo bottles to create rain "splashes" on top. The foam paint gives these paintings wonderful color and texture.
For an introduction on how to use foam paint, view the video clip below. Thanks for checking in!
Enhances visual motor skills; encourages
non-verbal expression; offers a unique sensory experience when used as a finger paint.
When was the last time you used Colorations® Foam Paint in your classroom? This paint is so much fun, children never get tired of it no matter how many times you bring it out. Here's the way I set it up for a group of 4 year olds.
Foam paint is so inviting, children are always eager to get started. Of all the paints I use with children, foam paint is one I can bring out again and again with any age child and they never get tired of it. There's something magical about watching brightly colored foam spritz out of a can and pile up high on a plate! It even makes noise as you spritz in out onto a paper palette, it is the ultimate sensory experience!
Sometimes I pass out large bristle brushes and sometimes we use paper towel rags to apply the paint. Here you see four year olds applying foam paint with large chubby brushes. You can see there are white crayon scribbles underneath the paint, if you look at the finished book on the tabletop.
And here you see a 3 year old boy applying foam paint with a paper towel. He is using the paper towel as a "painting rag" instead of using a brush. Either paper towel rags or large chubby brushes works fine, and I suggest you try both ways at different times. After all, when you vary how you apply paint, you stimulate new problem solving and a variety of different fine motor skills.
Here's the finished result from the 3 year old class. In this particular application, the children were working on "Rainforest Paintings." They used large white crayons to first put down lines that represented rain (scribbles, dots and stripes) then patted foam paint on top with their paper towel rags. We used foam paint that represented the colors of the rainforest. Then, for the final layer, we used Colorations® Liquid Watercolor in bingo bottles to create rain "splashes" on top. The foam paint gives these paintings wonderful color and texture.
For an introduction on how to use foam paint, view the video clip below. Thanks for checking in!
