{Ketchup Fingerpainting}

Though I'd love to say that I came up with this creative baby/toddler 'painting activity' on my own, I can't take any of the credit for this marvelously messy sensory play idea - it was all Sweet Pea's own doing! She managed to get hold of the ketchup when I was busy in the kitchen. By the time I turned around and saw what she was up to, she was up to her elbows (literally) in ketchup!

Since there was really no point in putting a stop to it by that point, I just let her go for it - and that's exactly what she did!

She loved smushing and squelching the ketchup between her fingers and smearing it all over the smooth surface of the table! Scraping her fingernails through it, wiping it with her fingertips, and painting her arms with it. As time went by, it got slightly stickier and less slippery, changing the texture and the sensory experience.

And of course, when she saw that I'd noticed, she had to start hamming it up by putting her face right in it, too!

I must admit, I had never thought of letting her fingerpaint with ketchup, but it was so fun and such a wonderful, slippery, slimy, sensory experience for her, that I would definitely recommend it! (Though a bib might be called for next time - thank goodness she had a red t-shirt on that day!)

Linked to: ABC & 123, Sunday Showcase, It's Playtime, Sun Scholars, I Can Teach My Child