Celebrate the holiday season with a fun Santa painting activity! This early childhood art project encourages young children to explore texture, shape, and color, while creating a memorable Christmas portrait. Use this project as an imaginative decoration for a holiday party or other special event.
Santa Finger Paint Art Lesson Objectives
- Explore art materials and process.
- Increase fine motor skills.
- Experiment with color and texture.
- Develop color recognition skills.
- Explore basic math concepts such as shape and to part to whole relationship.
- Build art vocabulary.
- Learn about portraiture.
- Follow steps in a sequence.
- Build self-regulation skills.
Age/ Grade Level
This Christmas themed art activity can be used with children ages three and up. Try adapting the lesson plan for younger or older children. Younger learners may need a more simplified version, while older children can try a more challenging painting lesson.
Materials Needed to Create Christmas Santa Paintings
- Finger paints or tempera paints (red, white, and other colors as needed)
- Construction paper (any color other than white)
Steps to Create Preschool Christmas Santa Paintings
Pre-activity
Before beginning this art activity discuss the concept of printing with the children. This includes the idea of multiple images created from one object or picture. In this case multiple images (circles) will be created from a finger tip.
Explain that the class will be creating portraits of Santa. Try a brief demonstration that shows hoe finger prints placed near each other can form larger shapes, and then form a picture of Santa.
Set out paper for the children to use, as well as tempera or finger paints. Make small puddles of the paint on washable trays or palettes. Use paints in red, white, and other colors. For an added lesson in color mixing, use only the primary colors, white, and black. Invite the children to create unique shades and hues by mixing the colors with their fingers and hands.
This finger paint printing activity will get messy. Therefore, it is best to cover any non-washable work surfaces and give the children smocks.
Process Steps
- Invite the children to dip a finger into the paint. The first prints will make Santa’s face. Allow the children to mix multiple colors in order to create a unique skin color shade.
- Have the children firmly press the paint covered finger onto the paper multiple times in the shape of a circle. Start with the outline of the circle, and then ask the children to fill it in with more finger prints.
- Next, move onto Santa’s hair and beard. This can be accomplished by dipping and dotting white paint in a free form or organic shape.
- Santa’s hat can be made by finger printing a red triangle.
- Add eyes, a nose, and mouth in other colors.
- Set aside to dry.
Santa Finger Paint Print Lesson Wrap Up
After the Santa prints have dried hold an art show and share. Ask the children to explain how the prints were created, what colors were used, and what shapes are found in the Santa pictures.
Early Childhood Enrichment Activities
Add this fun painting project to holiday themes or units, or use this lesson as a Christmas party activity. Include fun games such as counting the dots or guessing how special colors were blended.
Another way to extend this art project is to switch the theme. Try adapting it to fit other units by changing the subject matter. Examples include animal prints, vehicle prints, or season landscape prints.
The Santa finger paint print is a great way to explore art in the preschool classroom. Get ready for this messy process based activity, and watch as the children create imaginative Christmas themed art.
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