Rainbow Family Footprints

Our first family art project as a team of four and it was such a blast. The fact that we have a gorgeous canvas to represent our memories is just an added bonus.

Rainbow family footprints canvas.

What you need:

- willing family members (one of ours took quite a bit of convincing!!)

- acrylic paints in the colours of the rainbow

- nice thick paintbrush

- medium size canvas

- tub or water and wipes for post-painting washing

- we also placed a book behind the canvas so that pressure could be applied when making the footprints

- change mat

- towel

How it works:

I'll be honest, I didn't actually expect for this project to a) be enjoyable for all four family members, and b) look very pretty at the end. Boy oh boy was I wrong. This was quality family time at its finest which, with a 3 month old, I didn't really think was possible.

A key to success here is to make sure that you have everything set up and within reach once you start painting feet. We did our little bubs first and thankfully she loved the tickling paintbrush. Both kids lay down on the change mat for their turns and this made it nice and comfy for them. Be sure to paint the same foot on each family member. When pushing their feet onto the canvas just apply a little pressure on all parts of the foot to make sure the paint marks. After little lady was done she loved splashing her feet in the tub of water and having them towel dried.

Little bubs enjoying having her foot painted like a rainbow.

Foot spa!

My toddler was not keen on the idea but once we told him that if he let Daddy paint his foot then he would get to paint Daddy's foot, he was in. He could not stop giggling as the paintbrush tickled his foot. It was so lovely having baby sister watching on giving the odd smile too.

Little man could not stop giggling!

Now it was time for the adults to have rainbow feet. As promised my son got to paint Daddy's toes red. He thought this was such a special treat. It was simply adorable. 

Giving Daddy red toes.

Mummy took over the rest of the colours and then Daddy painted Mummy's foot after. During this time our little man was given a camera and his task was to get pictures. He also had to tell baby sister the name of each new colour as it was being painted. 

For the adults it helps to place a book behind the hollow canvas area so that when you apply pressure with your foot it doesn't damage the material. I would also suggest that before you make the footprint just check that none of the colours have started to dry. We had to apply a little fresh layer of paint to a few colours to make sure there was enough wet paint to make a decent mark. Once completed my husband added the date and that was it, our first family masterpiece complete and in pride of place above our fireplace.

So proud of the family masterpiece.

Apparently that wasn't enough for our little man though. As we started to tidy up he took it upon himself to sit and paint his own rainbow using the left over paints. In a way this was my favourite part of the whole activity. My son hasn't always been a keen painter so to watch him independently instigate his own little project was awesome. We put his rainbow picture next to the canvas above the fireplace as well.

Project solo rainbow.