Update: Puffy Paint in a Regular Oven

I posted about our puffy paint craft yesterday and several folks asked here and on Facebook if it could be done in a regular oven.

I looked online and couldn’t find anybody who knew if it could be done without a microwave, so we did a little experiment ourselves this morning.

The answer — yes!

We had some leftover puffy paint mixed up from last night and I put some dabs on a scrap of cardboard.  I put it in the oven at 350 for about 3 minutes. 

The paint puffed up and hardened pretty much the same way that it did in the microwave.

The paint also got a little bit darker than it was originally (the microwaved stuff seemed to retain its original colors).

WARNING:  The cardboard got quite hot after only 3 minutes.  Please watch very closely if you do this in an oven!

Our puffy paint was rather thick since it was leftover from last night (Alex had some fun squirting water in it so it then so it didn’t all dry out overnight).  Thinner paint might need another couple of minutes in the oven.

Be sure an adult does this portion of the craft.

Someone else asked about whether this would work drying out in the sun.  We don’t have much for sun today so I’ll leave that for someone else to experiment with.  🙂

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Easy Puffy Paint!

I’ve seen recipes for homemade puffy paint many times over the years, but I never took the time to make it with the kids until today.

What a shame I waited this long!

The kids had a blast and developed lots of ways to use it.

Even Harry Potter crests and pendants!

 

The original instructions were to mix one tablespoon self-rising flour, one tablespoon salt, food coloring and enough water to make a paste, once for each color.

Since I made up little cups for four different children (life is too short to listen to “Mom, Alex mixed all the colors into brown!” and “Hey!  Victoria used all the red up!” all day!), I soon realized that it made much more sense to just mix up:

• One part self rising flour
• One part salt
• Enough water to make a paste

and THEN divide it into muffin tins or ice cube trays and add food coloring!

Either way, all you do is give the kids Q-tips or paint brushes and instruct them to dab it on cardboard.

We used recycled Priority Mail boxes for our canvases, cut into small squares.  You want a nice sturdy canvas.

When the picture is finished, microwave it for about 10 seconds (we did 5 second intervals and occasionally needed longer for really thick and wet paintings).

All four kids had a blast using this stuff and they used it off and on the whole day and into the night.

Driveway Graffiti

I love this idea from No Time for Flashcards!  Brilliant!  We’ve mixed up sidewalk paint before and it hasn’t been the biggest hit with any of us, but using balls with it?  I love the sounds of it!

Easy Craft: Make Paint With Water Pages!

(Art by Victoria)

Here’s a super simple craft that’s fun for all ages.  Make paint with water pages!

Here’s how:

1. Draw a picture with a permanent pen or dark crayon.  If you like, you can draw it in pencil first and then go over it with a dark permanent marker.
2. Fill in sections of the picture with dots, lines, cross hatches or other designs with watercolor pencils.  Alternately, draw a line inside the marker lines with watercolor crayons (watercolor crayons are bolder and don’t require as much of a pattern to spread the color).  You don’t need to color the entire sections in — just a pattern or lines are fine.
3. Paint each section with a wet paintbrush to reveal the color.

Note:  This is an example of “you get what you pay for.”  Cheap watercolor pencils are rather pitiful for this so if you get a chance to pay a couple of extra dollars for nicer ones then I’d recommend it!

You can tell in the art above which sections were drawn with the cheaper pencils and didn’t blend as well (like the stems and leaves), as opposed to the ones that turned into vivid paint (like the flower center and the pink petals).  All of the sections were basically colored in the same with just cross hatches, and good pencils will blend and disperse so the pattern virtually disappears.

You can find watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons (which are great fun!) at craft stores like Michael’s (look for 40% off coupons online to help cut the cost).

For younger kids, do the art up for them (write their names in big block letters, make flowers, etc.) and then do the patterns for them or have them color inside to make the patterns.  Then give them the paintbrushes and water so they can magically paint while you’re cooking supper or otherwise otherwise occupied nearby.

Happy Friday!

Scratch & Sniff Watercolors

When we end up with packets of stuff like Kool-aid, it ends up in our craft drawer for fun recipes like this one.  The colors are nice and bright and it smells nice and fruity.  🙂

Scratch & Sniff Watercolors

1 Tbs. unsweetened powdered drink mix
1 Tbs. warm water
several small containers (muffin tins work well)

Mix water & drink mix together in a small bowl.  Repeat this step several times, using various flavors of drink mix to create different colors of paint.  Allow to dry overnight before scratching & sniffing!

(original author unknown)