Puffy Paintings - Activity Instructions

Tune In

Have children find a partner and ask one of them to draw a picture/shape on their partner's back using their finger. Ask the children: “Could you see the picture your partner drew? Why/Why not?”

Let’s explore this idea. Children suggestions may include

that they, in fact, couldn’t ‘see’ the picture
because they can’t see behind themselves!
it was just an imaginary picture drawn with a finger
it’s an invisible picture.

Pose the question, “Then how do you know your partner drew a picture if you can't even see it?” Explore with the children the ideas of ‘feel’ and ‘touch’, emphasising that they had used senses other than their sight to recognise that a picture had been drawn.

Introduce the children to the concept of ‘vision impairment’ and ‘blindness’.
Sometimes, people can’t see very well. This is a person with a ‘visual impairment’.
Sometimes just one eye can’t see very well, and sometimes both eyes.
Sometimes, people can’t see at all. This is a person who is ‘blind’.

People can be born with a visual impairment, or blind, or this is something that can happen later in life. Who knows someone who wears glasses? Lots of people start to need glasses to help them see as they get older. Sometimes people can get sick, or hurt their eyes and this can change how well they can see too.

We have already talked about using touch and feel, what other senses could we use if we couldn’t see? Let’s think about our room here at school. If we couldn’t see how could we safely find our way around? Let’s close our eyes for a minute, and use our other senses while we think about it.

Children might suggest:

using our hands to feel our way around by touching the walls and tables
listening to doors opening and closing
smell of paint and glue in the art corner

Ask the children, “What else could we use to find our way around?” Children might suggest

a cane or a stick to feel things before we run into them
verbal directions from a teacher or a friend
having a friend or a teacher act as a guide through physical touch

Find Out

Watch the following short clip:

‘Lucy & Toby - educational animation movie about blindness’ (youtube.com/watch?v=eFTrb3ECVrw).

Let’s compare this to the page in ‘Come Over to My House’ about Prisha and her mother who is blind.

“How do blind people read if they can’t see the words?”

As children identify that Toby and Prisha’s mother read with their fingers or by feeling dots consolidate that this is called Braille, and it is raised dots for the person to feel and each letter has a different pattern of dots which allows blind people to read.

Take Action

Let’s create some artwork that we can enjoy through touch as well as sight. Not only do ‘Puffy Paint’ masterpieces look a treat, but they also offer the opportunity to ‘feel’ the artwork as it dries textured and raised.

It’s best to use thicker cardboard to withstand the thicker paint and all of the touching it is destined to endure as a finished product.

To make the puffy paint:

Mix equal parts PVA or school glue with shaving cream in a small container or pallet.
Add a few drops of food colouring and mix until combined.

Encourage children to be part of setting up this experience. Squeezing glue, pressing down on the shaving cream dispenser, and dropping food colouring are all great ways of working their hand muscles and fine motor skills! Repeat as many times as required to make as many colours as required- an opportunity here to visit colour mixing to create secondary colours!

Children can then apply the puffy paint to the cardboard, creating a picture/pattern that can be admired via sight and touch! Once completely dry, place them in a ‘Touch and Feel Gallery’, encouraging admirers to close their eyes and feel the paintings!

Puffy Paintings

Go to

Summary

Activity Type

Target Age

Activity Guides and Printables

Activity Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

In this activity