Geometric Art from Children’s Finger Painting

So I’m sure you’ve heard me chat on it… I’m such an advocate for children creating art – no matter how young. I actually just talked about this when I shared the watercolour art mats a couple weeks ago. My kids started finger painting when they could sit up (I used a recipe that’s edible) and when they were ‘officially’ toddlers, they graduated to real paint. I created this post last year to share over at Honest to Nod… so NOW? My kids want paint brushes. What is this finger painting business that seems so messy? Ha! I love having their artwork in our home, but there’s two of them – and that would mean a lot of paintings on the wall. This is a fun idea to display their art and you can also incorporate multiple children’s artwork into one piece to display on your walls.

With that said… This toddler finger painting geometric art is made by combining two finger paintings for a big impact. I love that they each chose different colours (I limited them to three colours each), so it’s clear who’s triangles are who’s. You need to get up close to even realize that it’s made by toddlers. Even since we’ve re-done the twins room to make it a ‘big kid’ bedroom… this piece is still up on their wall and they’re pretty proud of it. I love that! It would also make a rad gift for a mom, dad, or grandparent (hello- Father’s Day is coming up!).

Please forgive the baby spam- I can’t get over how adorably small they were when I shot this! They are seriously kids now… they don’t feel like toddlers anymore (even though this was only one year ago). BUT… The first step is getting your toddlers, kids, or babies creating. I like to tape down my paper (this time I used poster boards) and put them in a seat they can’t get out of on their own (save the couches!). Since I wanted two distinct paintings, I gave them each different colors. This time I gave them some paint brushes and then showed them that they could also use their hands. They were really excited when we showed them they could use their hands so I would probably skip the brushes next time.

I use the tape that the poster boards are taped down with to hang them high on a wall to dry (anything to save the couches, I tell ya!). When they were dry, I used a craft knife on a cutting mat to cut the painted area into 5 cm strips (about 2.5”). I then, using my straight edge, cut my strips into triangles. I cut them on an angle 2.5 cm between the top and bottom lengthways, so my triangles were as tall as they were wide. Now that I have a Cricut and I looove it, I would still cut this out with a craft knife. The thick paint would totally dull the blade and I found that by pressing the blade through the thicker paint it didn’t peel any of the paint back (where as dragging it did).

When my triangles were all cut, I took a piece of yardstick cut to 8×10 (the size of my photo frame) and played out the pieces in a geometric pattern, alternating the blue and purple designs. When it was all laid out, I took one piece at a time and adhered it to the paper with double sided tape. Make sure you carry the design over the edge of the page and trim it off afterwards so you don’t have any white space to break the pattern around the edges.

Isn’t it fun? We really love this piece. I like having things the kids have created sprinkled around the house as part of our decor- they’re so proud to be a part of the things that we display.

Other sources from this shot: Dresser- Craigslist Score!; Bookends- The Land of Nod (discontinued); Photo frame- Dollar store (seriously! I bought about 10); Star Hook– The Land of Nod