Finger paints: advantages and features of use

For young children, finger painting is one of the most entertaining pastimes. It’s an enjoyable method for them to use color and shape to express their creativity. Little hands can easily dive straight into the art process because painting is a perfect introduction to them because using fingers instead of brushes makes it simple.

Finger painting is not only enjoyable but also very beneficial. It promotes the growth of hand-eye coordination, fine motor abilities, and sensory awareness. Additionally, children can investigate colors and textures through touch, which improves learning and fosters creativity.

In this piece, we’ll examine the benefits of finger paints, the reasons they’re so beneficial for children, and the best ways for parents to use them to foster creativity and education at home. Your child can enjoy and learn from finger painting if you follow these easy guidelines.

Advantages	Features of Use
Safe and non-toxic for children	Easy to clean with water and soap
Promotes creativity and imagination	Can be used on different surfaces like paper or cardboard
Helps develop motor skills	Encourages sensory exploration with hands
Bright and vibrant colors	Best used with supervision to prevent mess
Affordable and widely available	Great for group activities and bonding

What is it?

Finger paints are an uncommon tool for creativity that are meant to satiate kids’ eye for the pretty and colorful. Even the youngest child wants to draw with bright materials, and it doesn’t matter if he can’t hold a brush or pencil in his hands—you can just use your hands! Naturally, it is unrealistic to expect a child to produce any masterpieces at this stage of motor development. But rather than an attractive plot, a bright abstraction is important for kids the age group for which this product is meant (they start at one year old).

Given the youthful age of these artists and their drawing style, manufacturers ought to choose the composition with extra care. First of all, since the child’s hands are unprotected, the recipe shouldn’t include any dangerous ingredients that could enter the body through the skin. Finger paint varieties for small children should even imply theoretical edibility; however, bitterness should be present in the ingredients to prevent the baby from using the product for other purposes.

Since this type of paint is created specifically for drawing with your own body, it is not surprising that there is no talk of maintaining any purity of the process. In such conditions, it is fundamentally important that the dyes used are easy to wash off both skin and clothing. It should be noted that some manufacturers of budget products do not adhere to this rule, dictated by logic, so the choice of a set should be approached with due care., Finally, for the child to be really interested, such paints simply need to be as bright as possible – dullness threatens to lose the child"s interest. It is also considered good form to mix different colors without creating dirt.

Children can express their creativity through finger paints, which also help them develop critical motor skills. They facilitate kids’ hands-on exploration of colors, textures, and shapes and are simple to use and safe for small hands. With options that are non-toxic and washable, parents can enjoy the experience with their children without worrying about leaving a lasting mess. Additionally, finger painting promotes sensory play, which is crucial for the development of young children.

Benefits and harm

• Artistic taste. Constant observation of bright colors is necessary for a child in order to learn the most correct perception of the surrounding world.

If the artist is not given this chance during his early years, he will undoubtedly be restricted to creating only black and white graphics. While there is nothing wrong with this, it is preferable to give the baby as many opportunities as possible because, with time, he will develop into a master of color artistic transmission.

• Color perception. Modern bright life somewhat limits in the capabilities of those people who do not see much difference between shades. Thanks to early work with the brightest tones, the baby gets the opportunity to quickly learn to distinguish between colors and their smallest shades. As a result, brain activity also improves.
• Motorika. Although drawing with finger paints, due to its increased simplicity, does not seem to be a suitable way to develop motor activity, even such gymnastics with fingers can bear fruit. In the process of drawing, the child has to move his fingers more actively, thanks to which he will simply learn to hold the same brush in his hands faster.
• Psyche. After all, drawing is just a useful, calming and entertaining activity. Thanks to it, the emotional background of both the child and his parents is leveled out, and calmness and a good mood are two important qualities for ensuring good health.

There won’t be any harm from the paints if all quality standards are followed during manufacturing. Problems arise only when parents, seeking to save money, choose a low-quality product that might include hazardous or toxic ingredients and leave stains on different surfaces that don’t go away.

Types and composition

Traditional components for finger paints include:

• pigments that give the mass the desired color;
• water base;
• binders used to connect all the ingredients and make the mixture thicker.

Because of the composition’s careful balance, the mass never gets too runny while still staying soft. The best finger paints are made entirely of natural ingredients that are safe for the baby’s health; in fact, some are even edible, which means the manufacturers have to add bitter flavorings to their products.

However, certain ingredients may be swapped out for ones that are not suitable for ingestion in versions intended for kids three years old and up. The use of natural ingredients also makes cleaning easier; aloe vera paints, for instance, are typically very simple to remove from clothing surfaces.

Be aware that some finger paints are sold as watercolor or gouache.

You can choose this set over others if the box states that it allows for direct hand drawing; however, this does not imply that watercolor or gouache are appropriate for this kind of work.

In an effort to broaden their product offering, contemporary manufacturers are developing novel paint varieties with peculiar characteristics.

• Gel varieties do not dry out the skin, due to which they are better suited for the little ones.
• Sensory finger paints are supplemented with special particles that give dried colors different roughness, which further develops the child"s understanding of the world around them.
• Fluorescent paints are even capable of making any child happy, because the drawings made with such material glow in the dark.

Finger products are only available in sets because they are rarely made for professional artists. For young children, a set of at least four colors will suffice, but it would be appropriate to select a set that includes stamps so that you can quickly illustrate a specific image.

A child as young as three years old can be taught to transmit a picture of the world in all twelve colors more fully.

From what age can you use it??

The minimum ages at which different manufacturers list such imaginative materials on their products vary, and parents’ erratic remarks on forums simply serve to further perplex newcomers.

Generally speaking, finger paints are appropriate as early as six months old, at least in theory. The child’s motor activity is very limited at this age, so the benefits of such a parental endeavor are debatable. Not a single ethical manufacturer, unless they are trying to make a sale, will suggest paints for such small babies on their products.

While it is possible to use the product earlier, experts do not see the purpose of the product’s boxes stating that it is meant for children as early as one year old.

It should be mentioned that not every finger paint is risk-free. It’s likely that children’s products marked "for 3 years and older" contain substances that shouldn’t be mouthed.

While kids at this age aren’t as inquisitive as they once were and they shouldn’t try everything, parents still need to be cautious.

How to use?

Unlike any other, finger paints don’t come with instructions on how to paint pictures correctly; you can paint a tree or flowers any way you choose.

In theory, parents ought to be heavily involved in their child’s drawing process, guiding his or her abstract ideas toward a clear conclusion and teaching them how to produce a meaningful work of art. There are a variety of finger paint painting techniques that are accessible to all.

Body parts

This is painting with the palms and fingers first. A newborn will gladly get dirty and contaminate everything around him, so the process itself is more interesting to him than the outcome. But there’s also a developmental component to this, so you shouldn’t stop your child from drawing, not even on himself.

With a sponge or a sponge

You can give your child this somewhat unusual tool because finger paints easily squeeze out of the sponge’s porous structure after being perfectly absorbed into it.

With prints and stencils

Many sets come with unique tools designed to make it easier for kids to create a variety of artistic mediums. These consist of different rollers and stamps as well as stencil boards with slits cut in the shape of objects.

"Passepartout"

The parents bear full responsibility for the artistic concept in the work. In this instance, the child should paint the paper base at his own discretion, and the parents should simply cut out some colored paper figures (the sun, flowers, and butterflies) and place them on the base that the child has prepared.

How to make it yourself?

A lot of parents think that making finger paints at home is preferable to using obscure manufacturer recipes.

This is a simple process that can pique a child’s interest, make an infinite quantity of paints quickly and cheaply, and most importantly, ensure the baby’s safety without fail. Lack of storage containers or dyes that are sufficiently bright can cause problems, but these are generally fixable problems.

The Internet has a plethora of recipes for making homemade finger paints, but the main ingredients are always the same; the amounts vary only slightly.

To make the paints, you should combine a few glasses of flour, a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, and salt (to taste; however, the paints should taste awful).

Next, a few glasses of water are gradually added. The finished consistency should have a density similar to sour cream, with some deviations: more flour is added for thickening, and water is added for liquefaction.

Dyes are added to the mass after it has been divided into sections for coloring in various tones. As for the latter, store-bought food dyes are preferred by many, but natural juices from fruits and vegetables, as well as different seasonings and even green, can work. Such homemade goods should be kept in the refrigerator in tightly sealed jars.

An even easier recipe calls for coloring regular yogurt with pigments; these paints will remain edible, of course, and may even encourage a child to eat them. Although this habit is often overlooked by parents, it can eventually cause the child to lick brushes and other art supplies.

If you decided to use this recipe because you thought it was the best, keep in mind that the paints you make are not very long-lasting and should be used right away.

Brand rating

Many parents still choose to trust the experience of manufacturers because they know that if you put your trust in a well-established business, it won’t let you down. This is true in many ways—famous businesses have become so well-known for a reason. However, in order to purchase safe paint for your own child, you must be aware of the brands.

Products from Europe and America that have made it to home markets are typically characterized by their high cost and commensurate quality. Crayola paints are safe, bright, and easily removed, making them the most well-rounded option available in the United States.

While reviews claim that Spanish paints have similar qualities to Jovi, their colors are still more faded.

The meticulous composition of Dutch paints Ses sets them apart, making it possible to satisfy even kids who have allergies to everything; on the other hand, cleaning may prove to be more difficult.

It would be impossible to list other international suppliers without mentioning the names Artberry and Baramba.

Due in large part to their extremely low cost, Chinese products have been in high demand in our nation for almost thirty years. While some of its variations, like "Razvivashki," also have good performance qualities, others, like "Orange Elephant," fall short due to their lack of brightness.

In terms of home goods, they are at their typical level. The only paints that can be considered reasonably good are "Tsvetik," and even those have a significant drawback: they are hard to remove. Despite having catchy names like "Doodle-malyaka" or "Malyshi," these brands are objectively unworthy of consumers’ attention.

Children can explore their creative side with finger paints, which is an enjoyable and inventive way. They are ideal for young children who are just starting to develop fine motor skills because of their vibrant colors and simple application process. Furthermore, children often derive great pleasure from finger painting because it’s messy and lets them express themselves freely.

The safety of finger paints is another benefit. Parents can feel secure knowing that they are made especially for young children, washable, and generally non-toxic. Because of this, they’re a fantastic option for crafts to do at home or even for early education in preschool environments.

Finger painting is not only entertaining but also beneficial for education. It fosters children’s creativity, color recognition, and coordination. It’s an activity that promotes their general development in addition to keeping them entertained.

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