body painting/ finger painting

I know her normal colour is good mum, but doesnt she look pretty? Can we leave it on?"

Actually I should rename this post to say " finger painting for the anal retentive" as well :)

My childrens bedroom walls are rather dull still. Each have a cross stitch made from Ma on it, but there is nothing else as yet. And considering the amount of wonderful things they have created, that really is a crime.


And so, I set to task it getting them to help me create some beautiful things to decorate with.

We started with painting the paper that we were going to use for our final product. I put out some sinple finger painting, hoping that they would cover the whole page and and Jumeirah and I could cut it up into animal shapes for framing. ( I really want to create a proper art gallery for them, similiar to one I made for the kitchen. But the cork wont stay on the wall, so for the time being, I need to be able to frame it so I can hang it on the wall).

Amahli and the "give me more paint MUM!" face


Now as you know if you have read any of this blog, two out of three of these kids really dont like getting too messy, one more particularly than the other. The third, would bathe in a pool of paint and muck and often tints her hair and walls in her creative process.

As I knew would happen, Jumeirah was a bit hesitant and needed some encouraging, Amahli needed reining back slightly :) Jared watched. Then stepped closer. And then, told me he would "try it".

Check out his face :) I swear hes only doing this for me :)

And so I did something for him. I gave him a washing up glove to put on his hand. He was still a bit hesitant, then laughed in surprise and happily joined in :)








Once the page was completely covered we hung it up to dry. Jared was straight in to wash any remains of paint of himself. Amahli and Jumeirah were more ambitious...

( sneakily here, I sat at the window for all of 5 minutes to see what the girls would do)






" I'm sorry Mum, she got too close!" I heard on my way back with a wet towel to clean them up. Amahli was squealing with delight trying to get Jumeirah to chase her with completely painted hands, head and tummy.



At the grin on my face, Jumeirah took 3 extra seconds to work out she wasnt in trouble before tearing after Amahli to finish her new "creation". They had an absolute ball, paint all over this little squidgy body, but wow was she a pretty colour!






Amahli, blissed out in her element, loved this game and played for a good 20 minutes before I told them it was time to wash it off. Not game to bring this coated monster into the house, I filled her pool up and got herself clean :)

Sometimes, it pays to finger paint more, and point the finger less :)

I'll show you the finished products tomorrow :)