Friday, February 15, 2013

Homemade Finger Paint {Recipe}

Featured At: Baby Center UK

This past week I was in Atlanta visiting a friend of mine and her family. It was particularily cold there, complete with wind, rain and near freezing temperatures. Well, in order to keep the girls from going stir crazy from being cooped up, we had to get creative and find a way for them to keep busy. We decided that an artistic outlet would satisfy their energy, so making finger paints and letting them free their inner Van Gogh is what we did!
We decided how to make our paints after reading through quite a few recipes and settling on our favourite ingredients. All of these items are probably in your kitchen, so you won't have to spend any money on supplies! These paints are incredibly easy to make and I was amazed at how well they worked. Great coverage, vibrant colours and best of all, I knew exactly what ingredients my kids were working with.


Can't Get Started Without:
~water
~cornstarch
~sugar
~salt
~food colouring
~sealable plastic bags
~dish soap (optional)








To get started, mix together all of your ingredients (besides the food colouring; you'll use that later) in a saucepan.

 
On low heat, stir the mixture frequently until it starts to thicken.


 
Once your mixture has thickened, it is best to let it cool for a while.

 
We decided that in order to let the kids help us make the colours, we would put a bit of our paint into individual freezer bags. This way, they could have fun squishing the food colouring into the paint. It is a really good idea to use good quality bags (preferably with a double seal) because we found out that when the bags get squished too hard, as kids will do, the seal on the bags will pop and it makes a huge mess!
 


Now add your food colouring, as little or as much as you want to create your desired colour. The girls had a great time 'making' their favourite colours. It is also a really good time to do some teaching about colour mixing. Miss J was pretty surprised and excited when the red and blue she thought she was making turned into purple. Who says science can't be fun? 
 
 
Once you've added your colours let the kiddos get to squishing!


To help with the consistency of the paint, improve the smell and discourage the kids from eating it, we added a tiny bit of dishsoap to each bag. This is a completely optional step and can be avoided if you truly want your paint to be safe to ingest. Although, in no way am I saying this paint should be eaten or want anyone to think that I am sharing an edible paint recipe.

 
Once you have all of your beautiful paints mixed up,
 
 
 
you can put them into your containers. Any kind of container will work, but I chose to use these incredibly cute little ones that I found at Wal Mart. They are truly meant to be salt and pepper shakers, but for $ 0.97 each, I snapped them right up.
 
 
Finally, get the kiddos ready to paint.

Miss J was ready to go.
 
Make sure you have lots of paper, beacause they didn't want to stop.

 
Look at the concentration on those little faces!

 
The girls loved it! Not only did they have fun with the painting, they were also so excited to use what they had helped to create.  
 
 
Ingredients:
~ 6 tbsp sugar
~1 tsp salt
~1 c. corn starch
~4 c. water
 
Directions:
1. Mix sugar, salt, corn starch and water in medium saucepan.
2. Stir your mixture frequently over low heat until it begins to thicken.
3. Once it reaches desired consistency, remove from heat and let cool.
4. Once cooled, place in sealable baggies and add food colouring.
5. Mix.
 
 
I love cold weather indoor crafts. What are your favourite things to do when the weather isn't cooperating?
 
 
 photo 5cef4437-a301-4e81-82de-7eee429b9d93.jpg
 
Happily Linking Up With:
 
 
See Vanessa Craft
Photobucket
ThePinJunkie
For the Kids Friday
The Shabby Nest



 

 



7 comments:

  1. So cute! How fun for your kids. Thanks for sharing at Pinworthy Projects

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is such a great recipe for finger paints. It is inexpensive and safe, without any chemicals. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I love this recipe too. It's always great to know exactly what your kids are playing with! :)

      Delete
  3. This looks like a great recipe. Thanks for sharing, I'm sure my kids will love it :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Kate, I'm sure they will love it too! My girls had a blast. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Any idea on how long this can be stored and still be safe if ingested? How would you store it?

    ReplyDelete