Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

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This is a great process that will be sure to engage your 2+ year old artist, while providing you with hand printed (in this case, foot printed) holiday wrapping paper as a result.

Materials

• Washable tempera paint (we used three different shades of green)
• Roll paper
• Dot markers, crayons, colored pencils

Instructions

1. Set up the print play invitation by laying paper flat and weighing down with stones, setting paint in shallow containers adjacent to paper.
2. Model the possibilities of how to use the materials.
3. Let your child explore.
4. When the messy footprints are dry, you can invite your little artist to dot paint and draw on top of their footprints with a different color.

This invitation was set up for my four year old artist. Miss 17 months wanted nothing to do with this messiness.

Process over Product

My adult vision for this project was cute little Christmas tree feet printed all over the wrapping paper, but the artist went in a different direction. Art play for children is about the process, not the product. When your child is “done”, the paper could look different than your adult mind imagined it would. Don’t interfere. Celebrate their process for what it is.

I hope you are able to give this fun process a go soon. Your little artist is sure to have a blast, and the unique wrapping paper will most certainly be treasured by its recipient. Enjoy!