In my last post, I reviewed God from the Big Theology for Little Hearts series. In this post, I’m going to share some ideas for how to incorporate the book into your family learning throughout the week, specifically through a Trinity resist painting.

One of the strengths of God are the illustrations by Jessica Robyn Provencher. They are bold and beautiful, with details that make them fun to look at. The illustrations also make sense of the theological definitions that are in the book…if you’re an adult who is familiar with the Bible. However, my little kid needs a little explanation to understand how the pictures go with the words. As I said before, this is a strength because it opens the door for slow-reading and conversations between reader and child.

So how can we teach our children about God’s attributes using this book as a starting point? One of the easiest ways is to read the book multiple times. To do this, I try to make the book available to my toddler for the whole week. We bring it upstairs for bedtime reading, take it in the car when we go on outings, or suggest it when he wants to hear a story. While we do insist on reading it together at least once, by making it the “book of the week” my toddler can choose to hear it multiple times.

To aid this repetition and for more hands on discipleship, I came up with a fun activity to explore the concept of the Trinity. This art project is inspired straight from artwork in the book. It’s also very accessible for toddlers.

What is a resist painting?

Resist in art is using a waxy medium to create an “invisible” design on paper that is revealed when a water based medium is applied to it. Basically, it’s drawing on white paper with a white crayon, tapered candle, etc. and then letting your kiddo go at the paper with vibrant watercolors to reveal the drawing. My son had a lot of fun seeing what the picture would be and using the watercolor paints.

You can use this method to draw any design you please, but for this activity were going focus on metaphors of the Trinity, like the triquetra used in the board book God. You could draw a shamrock, or use a mix of images like I did. In order to understand the Trinity, my son also needs to understand the concept of 3, and he is learning number recognition. So, the main element of my design is a large block numeral 1, with a 3 inside of it. We also used three colors of watercolor that would mix harmoniously, to create a beautiful image.

One thing to note about images of the Trinity is that none of them are perfect representations of God. However, here are they are being used as a starting point for understanding in a small child, and this is where they shine.

Here’s what you need:

• A paper pad — You can use heavyweight watercolor paper if you like, but if you don’t mind a little curling at the edges, a regular pad of paper works just fine. You can also use a stack of paper if you like, its just important to have multiple sheets.
• Pen in any color
• White crayon — if you don’t have a white crayon, you can use a tapered white candle or try a waxy pastel.
• Watercolor paints in 3 colors (we used red, yellow, and orange) — To get the vibrant colors seen in the pictures, I let my toddler use some artists’ watercolors. Now, my kiddo doesn’t like having dirty hands and is pretty good about not putting stuff in his mouth, so I felt safe letting him use the paints under my close supervision, especially as most water colors are nontoxic. However, you can still get good results with pan watercolors or kids liquid watercolors. Just use whatever you have on hand.
  • Note: Part of using three colors is to help develop the concept of 3 to the numeral 3 in the design. To understand that God is 3 in 1 is to learn that 3 is different from 1.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Use the pen to etch out the design.

This step is designed to help you when it comes time to create your resist background. It’s very difficult to see what you’re drawing with white crayon on white paper, but we can increase precision and ease the difficulty if we start by etching our design first. So, Grab your pen and pad of paper. Pushing down hard on the top sheet, draw out your Trinity themed design.

The centerpiece of my design is a large block numeral 1 with a 3 inside of it. To this, I added smaller versions, and a triquetra and shamrock shape. Do what you like!

2. Go over your design in white crayon.

Remove the top paper to reveal a clean sheet with the design etched into it. Go over the design with white crayon, pushing down hard again. It’s a lot easier when you can see it!

3. Paint over your design with watercolors.

Gather watercolor paints in three colors that mix well together. Lay them out on a palette or plate with a brush and some water. Set the paper with the design next to it. Now it’s time to paint — or if you’re like me who preps art projects during nap time– it’s time to wait for your kid to wake up and then paint.

Voila! A beautiful piece of toddler art is created. Let it dry and then hang it up on the wall for further pondering.

Other ideas to teach God’s attributes:

• Give glory to God and learn about holiness by singing “Holy, Holy, Holy”.
• Talk about God’s goodness while enjoying warm milk with honey.
• Encourage others by telling them about God’s love with a simple Valentine.