Footprint Paintings for Mother’s Day

Handmade gifts for Mother’s Day are the best and grandmothers love them even more. I love painting with my son’s footprints. He enjoys it as well. The paint tickles his feet and he loves seeing how the print comes out. They make very sentimental gifts and are absolutely perfect for Mother’s Day.

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I have found that grandmothers will like these no matter how simple or complex the painting is. It can be as simple as a single footprint on canvas with their name and the year written on it. I put a piece of cardboard or plastic down to protect my floor, sit down with my son, and paint the bottom of his foot. Then, while holding his ankle, I place his foot on some canvas gently to make the footprint.

They don’t always come out perfectly. Sometimes I have to wipe it off and start again. Other times, I can fix it without having to repeat the print by spreading the paint to fill in the areas that were missed with my finger. I use acrylic paints to do these so that it lasts. Since I wash it off immediately after making a print, there is no risk of my son trying to put his foot in his mouth to eat the paint!

With all of these paintings, I make sure to finish the painting with Mod Podge so that it protects it. This is especially important in the first painting since there were some washable paints used. Adding this final layer makes sure that it lasts a long time.

LOVE

This first one is the one that my son was the most involved in. For this painting, I first had my son fingerpaint on the canvas with non-toxic paints. He had a fun time spreading the paint around to cover the surface. We used blue, green, and purple to make a kind of “mermaid” color scheme to the background.

The paint was too bright though, so I took a piece of paper and pressed it on top of the canvas to take some of the paint off. It made the canvas look better, and I got an additional piece of art!

Next, I took painted his feet with black paint and made a “V” on the canvas using both his right and left feet. Then we made a handprint for the “O”. Finally, I painted the “L” and the “E”. To complete the look of this painting, I added a red heart to the upper right-hand corner. I was really happy with the result of this painting!

FOUR-LEAF CLOVER

My mother-in-law is Irish, so for the first Mother’s Day where she was a grandmother, I made a four-leaf clover out of his footprints. First, I painted the background in a light green. Then, I used both of his feet (right and left) to make each leaf in a brighter green. The right footprint is on the left side of each leaf, and the left footprint is on the right side of each leaf. Then, I outlined the four-leaf clover and painted our last name underneath. It is still on display in her living room!

TREE

This is the most complex painting I have done. It was made for my mother for her first Mother’s Day as a grandmother. First, I made a footprint in brown at the bottom of the canvas (toes pointing down to make “roots”). Then, I painted the branches using brown paint extending upward from the heel. After the brown dried, I used several different shades of green and a lot of footprints to make the leaves all around the branches I had painted. This took several sessions, one per color, allowing time for the paint to dry. I also made little toe prints along the bottom to make grass. The final touch was to paint blue around all the white space that was left. I liked leaving a little white border as I think it really gave another dimension, although if you prefer, you could always paint the blue background before doing the prints.

I am really proud of all of these paintings. Doing them on canvas makes them look so much better than doing it on paper and there is no need to frame as long as you seal it with Mod Podge! They make great gifts and I’m planning on continuing to make more and come up with new ideas in the future. I always make sure to mark these paintings with the year so that I can remember how old my son was when I painted them. I’ve also done paintings for Halloween and Christmas.

Do you like when your kids make something for you for Mother’s Day? My son is still too young to make me things, but I look forward to the day when he can! In the meantime, I’ll continue to help him make these paintings as gifts for his grandmothers. I know they won’t complain!