Little Toddlers Guest Post: Patriotic Footprint Flags

Materials Needed:

Construction paper (blue, red & white), washable paint (blue, red & white), paper plates

Directions:

1. Pour a small amount of paint into separate paper plates by color (or whatever container will be big enough for your child to stick their hand/foot inside)

2. Place the construction paper on a flat surface with space between each sheet

3. Help your child put their hand/foot in a particular color of paint and then place the foot on a sheet of paper, making a print

4. Repeat with other hand/foot as desired

The first time we dipped my daughter's foot in a paint color, there was a lot of excess paint. I would have had a 'trash' paper nearby to wipe off some of the excess. We ended up just using the white piece of paper for that reason and will probably throw out that flag.

During the activity, we talked with my daughter about the colors of the paper and paint. We also talked about her feet and toes.

Thanks Kathren! What a fun sensory experience for your daughter! Talking about sensory words like squishy, icky (at least in my opinion :)), wet, cold, soft, etc. during this activity would also be a great way to help teach a few new words while experiencing new sensations. I'll bet taking a dip in a cool bath or baby pool afterwards to clean up would provide even more opportunities to introduce more sensory words.

Older kids might enjoy doing this same activity on a large roll of butcher paper so that they can walk around and cover more space with their handprints and footprints... and they might even enjoy turning the handprints into a large American flag like in this example.

Thanks for sharing such a simple and easy activity with us!

Kathren is a mom of an active and adventurous one-year-old. She is expecting a new little one in early December. She juggles her week working full-time as a financial analyst and mom and spends her weekend filling the days with as many fun activities as possible to spend time with her daughter and family. She loves baking, running, gardening and playing with her daughter. Kathren blogs about their family's adventures at You're Gonna Miss This.