Fantastic foil fold-over paintings

Young children love the beautiful and colorful results of paint rubbings. It is like magic when you put different colors of paint on a piece of paper, fold it over, rub it, then open it back up to see all the beautiful  blended colors. Today, my Pre-K students enjoyed a different kind of paint rubbing which I like to call foil fold-over painting…

To set up our foil fold-over painting center, I set different colors of paint and aluminum foil out on the table. One of the many things that I love about this process is that it requires so little preparation and very few materials and yet it is a process that is very engaging…

To begin the process, my students started by tearing off a sheet of aluminum foil.  I had to show some of my students how to lift up on the foil to pull out the length they wanted then pull down on the foil to tear it off…

The children caught on quickly to tearing off their own sheets of foil and it didn’t matter if their sheet of foil was long or short, the process still worked out pretty much the same…

Once the children had a sheet of foil off of the roll, they set the foil on the table and begin to make paint designs on top of their foil…

Some of my older students chose to draw a picture with the paint bottles but most of my students chose to squeeze lines or dots of paint out randomly all over their sheet of foil…

Once the children had the desired amount of paint on their sheet of foil, then they folded the foil in half…

Once the foil was folded in half, the children rubbed their hands all over the outside of the foil for a few seconds…

After rubbing the outside of the folded foil, then the children opened up their foil to see the magical way their colors blended together…

Some of my students enjoyed the process so much that they chose to keep on going and many of the children made two to four different foil fold-over paintings…

Along the way, some of our pieces of foil would get wrinkled up during the folding or rubbing process, but my students didn’t care – we found that it added texture to our paintings…

And some of our sheets of foil might rip a little around the edges but my students didn’t care because the painting inside was still quite beautiful. And any time a child wanted, they could make another one.  All of my students did an amazing job of painting, folding, rubbing, and unfolding their sheets of aluminum foil all by themselves. As the children completed their paintings, they set them in their drying rack to dry overnight…

This was a wonderful process that involved the use of fine motor skills and an excellent way to invite exploration in color, texture, and design…

Questions you might ask…

  • The paint bottles are condiment bottles that I picked up at Walmart in their kitchen department.
  • We didn’t use up all of our foil – I think we still have over half the box of foil left.
  • The children wrote their names on the paintings using a thin black permanent marker.

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Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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