The infants have been interested in exploring with creative materials in a variety of ways, so to build on this, we planned a full body painting day! We lined the floor with paper, provided paint pots, paintbrushes, and a few facilitated paint pours by the educators all around the paper. This gave the babies an opportunity to explore with primary and secondary colours, as well as what happens when they are mixed together. Brady was quick to get into this activity as he picked up the purple paint pot and used his sense of taste to further investigate, leaving behind a fun face paint marking. He used his hand eye coordination as he held the paint pot in his hands, as well as the paintbrush, dipping it into the paint and spreading it across the paper. He then used both hands to spread the red paint around with his sense of touch. Madelyn practiced her pincer grasp as she used the paintbrush to make blue markings on the paper. She used her communication and social skills as she looked at the educator, said “Painting! Painting!”, and expressed joy with her big smiles and laughs. Maddie was also proactive during the clean up process, working her self regulation skills as she placed her hands under the running faucet to rinse the paint off her hands. Danilo got busy with the green paint, putting his fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to use as he dipped the paintbrush in the paint pot using a pincer grasp in order to paint the paper, his hands, his legs, and his onesie. Using his sense of touch, he rubbed his hands together to feel the squishy and wet consistency of the paint before exploring it with his sense of taste, one painted finger at a time. Emerson got into the pink paint, using his critical thinking skills to mix it with the blue paint, and building on his literacy understanding as he listened attentively to the educator saying “wow, you mixed pink and blue together and it made purple!”. He also practiced his fine motor skills and coordination as he used the paintbrush as well as his hands to paint on the paper, on his legs, and on his feet. Scarlett went all in for the yellow paint, developing her self regulation skills as she used the paintbrush to paint her entire arm. She kept at this for a long period of time, dipping into the paint and spreading it on her arm using a well-coordinated technique. Throughout this activity, we fostered the infants’ sense of self-expression through their bodies, words, and materials, as well as problem solving.
