Animal Footprints Painting

• Paper
• Paint (Ideally brown, but it honestly doesn't make a difference)
• Different animals with different feet

This activity is especially fun if your child is learning animal sounds or animal names. I love emergent subjects and this is something Lincoln was really interested in. He loves animals. I put him in his seat with only paper and let him choose 2 different animals from his toy bin. Of course, we ended up using 4. Because art is a way to express himself, I rarely say no when he makes a request. I put some "puddles" of paint on the paper and then he got to stomp his animals through the paint and across the page. One way to deepen learning is to ask prompts along the way. Here are some great ideas to get your toddler thinking...

• Where is your animal going?
• Who makes a bigger/smaller footprint?
• What happens if you stomp the animal really fast/slow or loud/soft?
• 1, 2, 3 steps! Can you count while your animal marches?
• What does this animal say when they march?
• For older children: where is the animal going/coming from? 

1. Creative expression without worrying about the finished product.
2. Exploring role-playing and imagination through pretend play.
3. Language development through open-ended questions and making animal sounds.
4. Fine motor skills.
5. Color identification and familiarization.