Art within Art

There is no artist more productive than the toddler finger painter. They crank out masterpieces by the dozens and before you know it, you have more than enough art for every wall of your home (not to mention 95% of the pieces are giant smears of multicolored goo, these are toddler artists after all). It just doesn't feel right to toss all of the excess art into the recycling once your fridge is covered and the baby books are full....so I looked around for an alternative.
I heard from the teacher of the toddler art classes at the library that she uses the surplus of her kids' paintings as wrapping paper for the relatives. Another helpful friend suggested making gift tags and mailing labels from the extras. My favorite idea came via the blog sarahjanestudios.com/blog...the blogger, an artist herself, took some of the paintings her children had done and using simple templates (of her own design), created art for their rooms.

I think this is such a fantastic idea. What could be better than the miniature artists in your own home contributing to the design of their rooms?

I love the versatility of this project. The templates could be the simple outlines of train cars, bugs, any variety of animals.....whatever is most suited to the child and the room. Sarah Jane was generous enough to supply the templates from the gallery on her blog, but if you want to try something different you can do a search for clip art or silhouettes and come up with many fun options. At last, the proper showcase for finger paints!

{Images courtesy of Google}