Colourful Sophie

Who are you? by Stella Blackstone

I am running out of books I can use as a tuning in activity... This particular book lets the child guess what each animal is by revealing only a part of it. Therefore, I decided to let Sophie do hand prints (part of her body) today. Surprisingly, she actually enjoyed the book when I read it to her. The colours used in the book are mainly bright and warm, so we tried to follow it for our prints. She was a little apprehensive when I applied orange paint on her hands at first.

But she seemed to like printing with her hands once she got over the sensation of dry paint on her hands. We finished it with bright red and blue at the bottom.

End Product I - Hand Prints

I had leftover paint on the plate so I took out the sponge roller I bought yesterday and let Sophie have a go at it. The roller intrigued her and she seemed quite excited about printing. In fact, she did attempt to use the roller correctly but she grew frustrated when the paint was a little too dry to glide across the paper. She soon lost interest in printing with the roller and started squeezing the sponge and rubbing the painting on the paper.

End Product II - Sponge Roller Prints

I wanted to see what Sophie would do with the roller if I did not guide her... After all, I read today that if the activity becomes too challenging for the child, we should adjust the level of difficulty so that we would not frustrate or demoralise the child. Well... with freedom and permission, she would use it for stamping (anger management). And when the paper could not satisfy her, my hand became the convenient target.

End Product III - Sponge Roller Prints by Stamping (done solely by Sophie)

I guess the right materials are very important. If the paint was smooth and easy to apply onto the paper, Sophie might have enjoyed printing with the roller a little more. I have to be more mindful...

Dirty Hands, Guilty Sophie! (Don't be fooled by those puppy eyes of hers... I did not scold her, I swear!)