» Would you like to paint a portrait of your hand? Nurture Our Child with Love and Patience: Importance of Nurturing Our Child in Their Early Childhood Development

Yesterday was the last day of school term! Everyone was celebrating for the coming long holidays and Christmas as well as new year! There were no formal classes, but we let the children enjoyed themselves by having fun with playdough, threading bracelet with beads and also painting their own portrait of their hand. Children were moving around to take part in the activities. They really enjoyed themselves that day! They were so concentrating when they were making shapes from their playdough.

They were focus to thread the small and colorful beads together to make themselves a beautiful bracelet. The beading activity is quite challenging for most of them as the beads are smaller and the elastic string is thinner. Therefore, the activity requieres lots of concentration and fine motor control. The most exciting part for all of them is when giving out present - candy, chocolates, cupcakes etc.! We have had a good time together!

Shall we show our child to make his own portrait of his hand? Firstly, let us prepare the simple materials that we need :

poster color
painting paper
paint brush
crayon
a container with some water
a plastic mat or newspaper
wet cloth

Set up the work place. Put a plastic mat or newspaper on top of the table to protect it. Take out the painting paper and get your child to put his hand on top of the paper. Trace his hand using a pen or pencil. If your child has strong pincer grip and fine motor control, you may ask him to trace by himself. It will be challenging for your child to trace himself as the act requires lots of body coordination and concentration.

After the hand is traced, ask your child to color it with crayons. Remind your child to color within the line and encourage him to use more than one color. Let him take his own sweet time to finish the coloring.

Mix the poster color with the water in the container. Encourage him to choose his color and ask him to name the color, to reinforce his vocabulary as well as his memory. Use a paint brush to spread the water color on the whole paper. If the color is too thick and we are unable to see the hand print, then use a tissue paper to dab on the hand print in order to remove the excess water color from the paper. Finally your child has produced his own portrait of his hand.

Let it dry before hanging the portrait on the wall. The activity is just simple and children love it! You may also prepare some other activities that I have mentioned in the beginning. Enjoy the weekend!