There is nothing like a homemade gift made by a child as these gifts carry a sentimental value and they can be very fun to make.
Since Nikki is only 19 months old, I had to research to see which activity would be age appropriate and what she could
have fun with. I was thrilled to find an adorable craft that was a carrot made from the child’s footprint. For this craft I required paint and I decided to make my own paint which would be safe and very inexpensive to make. Here is how I made it.
Materials Used
Salt
Flour
Water
Food Colouring
Directions
Take 1/2 cup of flour and put it into a bowl
Take 1/2 cup of salt and mix it with the flour
Once all mixed, add 1/3 cup of water
Mix all the ingredients until it’s smooth
In a separate small bowl, mix red and yellow food colouring until it turns orange.
Pour the mixture into a Ziploc bag and then add the orange food colouring.
Seal the bag and squeeze to mix the colour into the mixture.
Once colour is all blended, then place the paint in a tray for easy foot dipping.
I was getting very excited at this point as I made homemade paint (never thought I could really do it). I set up an area in the living room for our painting session. Went to Nikki and told her it was time for some painting fun. I rolled up her pants and took off her socks. Showed her the paint and explained what we were going to do. She appeared to be excited but I was wrong…..SO wrong!
After dipping Nikki’s feet into the paint, she lifted her feet in disgust and started to cry. Now I had a crying toddler with orange feet and panic started to set in my heart. So I took Nikki to the bathroom to wash her feet which stopped the crying. Dried off her feet and took her back to the painting area which then resulted in more tears with the sight of paint. As I tried comforting her with a hug, she refused it. At this point, I knew she no longer trusted me as I was the one that dipped her foot in the paint (I can see her point!).
To turn around this “epic craft failure” session, I decided to show her how fun it could be. So I tried showing her with my own hand and foot art. Nikki enjoyed seeing me do it and asked for me to do it again but to myself. I tried to see if she would do it now and I got more tears. Therefore, I knew that this craft was not in the cards for us today.
An amazing friend of mine suggested tracing her foot with crayon instead and I thought that was a great idea. But first, I had to clean the mess that I made. Once everything was cleaned, I tried approaching Nikki to trace her foot but of course Nikki refused to give me her foot and wouldn’t even let me put her socks back on. Nikki just needed some space and I gave her just that.
As soon as she was ready, she came to mama for some TLC. I showed Nikki the paper and crayon which this time got her really excited. So I asked her to put her foot on the paper and showed her the crayon. Success! Got her foot traced!
So we changed the craft a bit and here is our final product. We hope Nikki’s great grandparents enjoy it as it was a tough mission to accomplish.
What I learned from this fiasco, is that with toddlers you always need to improvise and never expect things to go smoothly. Allow them their space and offer alternatives. Things will get done but it may not be your way. After being originally bummed out, I remember that at the end of the day, it was made by my child. That counts for everything!
Happy Easter crafting!
– Momma Braga
