Puffy paint in the microwave. Easy peasy. And highly entertaining for the kiddos. Saige has been napping in her bed for her afternoon nap, which has opened back up our activities. (I’d been slacking and using Saige’s nap as an excuse to take one myself.) With the fear of the baby going thud gone and not wanting to buy much of anything since we just have to pack it back up to move, I remembered a simple art project a friend sent me a while back: microwave puffy paint. It’s a simple concoction—flour, salt, water, and food coloring—that filled an afternoon with fun.
Microwave Puffy Paint
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
Food coloring
Microwave for 30-60 seconds, depending on gloppiness (technical term there)
It was easy to mix; I just added everything at once and whisked together in a bowl. I evenly separated out the mixture into ramekins where I then added food coloring and mixed. I had the kiddos use Q-Tips to paint on standard old white paper plates (it’s best to use a thicker paper for sturdiness). It worked alright until they decided to just use the spoons from the ramekins to drop the paint on their paper. I decided to find a better way to get the paint on paper. Squeeze bottles. Despite not wanting to buy anything, I checked Amazon. Amazon always delivers. I found 2 ounce squeeze bottles with a narrow tip, one click and two days later…
The next time we puffy painted, I mixed the ingredients in a pitcher so it’d be easy to pour into the squeeze bottles. (I actually doubled the recipe knowing how quickly the kiddos painted last time.) It was easy to mix and pour, but I wish I had added the food coloring prior to pouring into the small squeeze bottles. It was harder to mix in the color; manageable but not ideal. We also used cardstock paper the second go.
Overall, a success and great activity. Added bonus was giving the kiddos the food coloring to experiment with mixing colors.
Jumping Raccoons 