Finger Painting Letter A and Apple Trees

We painted apple trees tonight. Since it was a holiday, I've decided to do our homeschool activities this evening after going to Mass. That's one of the things I love about homeschooling. We are not tied to a specific time only. We can choose to do our activities or lessons in the morning or at night.

 

So, the boys had plenty of free play all day while Mommy and Daddy had time to rest and watch a movie while they had their nap. ;)

 

Now, let me share our simple activities for today.

 

First, I traced upper case and lower case Letter As using a pencil on a bond paper. Then, I let my 2-year-old son dip his index finger on a red paint. I guided his finger to demonstrate to him how to follow the line. Then, he did it on his own. We did the same thing with the small letter a. After that, we air-dried his work.

 

Our second activity was painting apple trees.

 

Here's our step-by-step procedure in doing this activity:

 

1. I gave each of my sons a bond paper.

 

2. I painted one palm/hand of my son with a green paint. You can use your own finger, a brush or a sponge. I simply used my hand to put and spread paint on my son's hand.

 

3. Press the child's hand on the bond paper gently for a few seconds and lift. To practice their counting skills, I let my kids count from 1 to 20.

 

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 twice or up to 4 times until you form a canopy for your apple tree using the child's hand print.

 

5. Clean the child's hand with a wet wipe or wash his hand.

 

6. Paint brown paint on your child's upper index and middle finger and guide his hand to make a tree trunk for your apple tree by pressing his fingers on the bond paper. Keep adding paint and pressing until you get the desired height of your tree trunk.

 

7. Clean the middle finger and paint the index finger with brown paint again and use this finger to guide your child to paint the branches and roots of the tree.

 

8. Clean the fingers again using wet wipes.

 

9. Air-dry your painting for at least 5 minutes.

 

10. Use your child's pinky or index finger to paint the apples on your tree. Dip the child's finger on red paint and let him press it gently on the canopy. Instruct your child to press his finger only within the green paint. You may ask your child how many apples he's like to paint on his tree like what I did. Then, let him count as he paints.

 

11. Clean your child's hands with soap and water and dry his hands as you air-dry his painting again.



My 5-year-old's apple tree.



My 2-year-old's apple tree.

 

12. Ask your child to label his painting. You can ask him to write Mateo's Apple Tree for example. If your child doesn't know how to write yet, you can guide his hand as he holds a crayon or pencil and help him label his painting.

 

That's it! Then, display your child's painting!

 

This is our last activity for our Letter of the Week Program for Letter A. Watch out for our next Letter of the Week activities in my next posts!