painting with feet

I love presenting this material to my students. Here's what you'll need:

• large, thick paper - butcher paper won't do, because it's too thin
• waterproof mat, larger than your paper, to place on floor. Try buying a meter of that picnic table material.
  
• plastic tray large enough to fit your foot in
• piece of felt to cover bottom of foot tray, and duct tape to secure it down
• pitcher for transporting water
  
• basin for washing feet when you're done
  
• small bucket for transporting used water to drain
• a chair
• washable paint available on the shelf
• towels for drying feet
  

1. Place waterproof mat on floor. Bring the chair, basin, bucket, and clean towel to the work area. Place the basin just to the right of the chair, and drape the towel over the back of the chair. The bucket can be placed to the right of the basin. Fill pitcher with water and empty into the basin. Retrieve a piece of paper and place it in the middle of the waterproof mat.
2. At the shelf, squirt a generous amount of paint onto the felt-bottomed foot tray. Bring tray over to work area, placing it on the mat, to the left of the paper.
3. Sit down in the chair and remove shoes and socks. Place shoes to the left of the chair.
   
4. Stand up and place one foot at a time into the foot tray. Step onto the paper.
5. Demonstrate different techniques - painting with the big toes, tip-toes, whole foot, dragging the foot, etc.
6. When you are finished, sit down in the chair and place painty feet in the basin. Rinse, using your hands, then use towel to dry off each foot individually. Put shoes on.
7. Dump dirty water into the bucket, and transport it to a drain inside, or a thirsty plant outside.
   
8. Place painting in a secure place to dry.
9. Place the dirty towel with the laundry, and replace with a clean towel.
10. Invite the child.

A neat variation for this is to use black paper and white paint. Also, mixing paint colors in the foot tray is nifty.

Happy foot painting,
Meg