Christmas Craft Opinion. Should I paint or dcks?

[SunflowerMama]

Ok so we are doing these super cute Santa salt dough ornaments for the parents.


I've done their handprints already but I'm wondering about the painting. Would you paint them or have the kids do it. The ones that would be painting are a young 3 and three young 2s. I'll of course be painting the infant ones (I have 3 infants).

http://www.thekarpiuks.com/look-what-we-made-hand-print-santa-ornaments

So would you do the painting?

[Mom&Provider]

I'd let the 3's for sure do it and possibly the 2's if they seemed interested in doing it! So what if it's not perfect, if it's a big puddle of one colour...it's their art and as a parent I'd want that over your own!

[blandino]

So funny, I posted this exact same question yesterday and the response was - do whatever is easiest for you. I wound up putting Green/red polka dot ribbon through the hole, and leaving the infants unpainted - and they look really nice.

[blandino]

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57034

[melskids]

I am all about process art...I am a HUGE advocate, and that's all I offer all year long. Those who know me, know I've preached enough about it on here, that's for sure.

But in this case, if you are looking for a finished product with a certain "look" to it, I say go ahead and paint them yourself and don't feel guilty about it.

We did handprints on ornaments, and I went ahead and finished them myself. There's no way the kids were going to be able to do it. To me, it wasn't "art". It was a specific product I wanted to give as a gift....no different then a crochet blanket or cookie mix. Sometimes you just HAVE to follow the directions, you know? We did plenty of other open ended holiday art for the kids to call their own!

So it depends on what YOU want the outcome to be? Do you WANT them to look like the "picture" or do you WANT to let the kids paint them however they choose?

[SunflowerMama]

So funny, I posted this exact same question yesterday and the response was - do whatever is easiest for you. I wound up putting Green/red polka dot ribbon through the hole, and leaving the infants unpainted - and they look really nice.

That is so funny!! I didn't even see it!

[Willow]

I'm making these tomorrow, painting them myself tomorrow night, and sending them home Thursday.

Agree with the PP, it's not so much a craft as a gift I'd personally like to give the parents.

[blandino]

I am normally all about the art being authentically the children's work - but I just went through and edited their painting on the salt dough hand prints. You really need the whole hand filled in to be able to see their handprint clearly. So I went through and filled in the gaps. I would agree that the finished product in this case is important, and I was okay with altering their art slightly.

[Lyss]

I had a DCP "hint" multiple times how cute that handprint santa was and how she wished she was crafty enough to do one with DCB... But I'm not one to sit and paint the project for the kids so its not gonna happen. I am making the hand print salt dough ornament and leaving it plain so she can paint it herself if she wants.

My DCKs are doing this:

http://www.theimaginationtree.com/2012/12/salt-dough-handprint-christmas-tree.html