We are the family who paints windows

I recently decided to let Hamish paint the sliding doors with some Dala finger paint as a sensory activity.

It started off very innocently. We called over his little friend and I set out a few paint tools and paints.

The boys were really excited and quickly set to work choosing a paint brush or roller and painting the glass.

Hamish and I will often paint the sliding doors and use a variety of materials to do so. Some of the things we use are:

• Paints
• Shaving cream
• Flour paste with food colouring
• Corn flour mixed with food colouring and water
• Custard
• Instant pudding ( and then he licks it off)
• Ice cream
• Coloured ice blocks
• Creams or lotions
• Mielie mel cooked runny with cinnamon or nutmeg
• Cream, especially orley whip
• Yoghurt

I also like to mix up our painting tools and let him use :

• Paint brushes
• Rollers
• Mini sponges
• Stamps
• Spoons ( plastic)
• Forks or knives also plastic, to make patterns
• Kitchen utensils
• Cotton wool
• Pom poms
• Feathers
• Our hands
• Toilet tubes as stamps

The most beautiful pictures are designed and if you want to keep a copy of your child’s masterpiece you can place a piece of paper over the image and take a print.

We were having a lot of fun, encouraging the boys to paint the entire window pane when Hamish suddenly decided he was going to paint ….me!

We will often have mini paint fights and I always use a non toxic and non staining paint as we very seldom use art aprons.

So, when he painted me I wasn’t worried about the mess and quickly met him in play and painted him back.

These are the moments I believe he will remember.

The moments that will make him unafraid to try new things and explore his creativity.

These are the moments I can show him that it is just a little paint and we can always clean a mess.

These are the moments where our spontaneity shines through and there is pure joy in the moment.

After many giggles, lots of paint and excitement we were both pretty colorful and decided to stop painting each other and concentrate on painting the window.

I showed the boys how to drive the toy cars through the paint and make tracks onto the glass. Another firm favourite boy activity.

You can read about how we were painting with cars when Hamish was much younger.

And then I went behind the glass doors and the boys painted my face. This activity we do quite often.

This is a great way to teach facial features and for little ones just learning to draw faces.

All in all it was a fun afternoon, the kids needed a shower and I was incredibly happy to wash all the paint off me.

Until our next paint explosion that is 🤣