I had actually planned spice painting as an open-ended activity for my Crafty Kids students today, but between making senses books, creating squishy sensory balls, and exploring the magic that is slime, we didn’t get to it. Not to worry though, between Gracen and a handful of friends, the paint got plenty of use down in the courtyard this afternoon.
Halloween is quickly approaching, which as a mama of a sugar-free kid, means it’s time to get extra creative. Creative with the goodies we make to hand out to trick-or-treaters, creative with the candy alternatives we have for Miss G, and creative with the mass amounts of treats she’ll inevitably come home with after Halloween night here at The Dunes.
So while we’re still not ready to let Miss G chow down on the sugary sweets she brings home from candy collecting with her little friends, we are more than happy to help her put it to use with art projects, learning activities, and science experiments, and that’s just what we did a couple of days ago. Using a bag of Skittles, a couple of other things we already had on hand and some inspiration from this post, we created a thick, sticky paint that smells delicious and dries with the most beautiful glossy finish.
I’ve had this very easy bath activity on my list of to dos for a long while now, but I just never seem to come across shaving foam that doesn’t smell like a bottle of men’s cologne (is it just me or does putting your little lady to bed reeking like a can of Barbesol feel weird?)
But on our latest trip to the States, I came across this one… A shaving cream that smells like raspberries. While I’d prefer it to be all-natural and unscented if possible, beggars can’t be choosers, so I picked up a couple of bottles.
Tonight before bath time I gathered the shaving foam, some food colouring, a muffin tin, and a few paintbrushes, and we had foamy bathtub paint in no time!
To make the foamy paint I squeezed a few drops of food colouring into each muffin cup, filled them up with cream, and stirred them up using the paintbrushes. In hindsight, I should have put the cream in first and the food colouring on top as it would probably have been easier to mix, but it still turned out just fine.
In addition to making the paints, I squeezed a couple of drops of pink food colouring into the bath water… Miss G thought it was all pretty special.
The first order of duty was smelling them…
And then she dove right in. She did use the brushes too, but squishing the foam through her little fingers was too much fun not to try.
After all of the paints had been used up and the bath water was a deep shade of purple, we used our removable shower head to simply rinse the foam down the drain. While the clean up was very easy, the more vibrant colours did tint our white grout in a couple of places, so that’s something to be aware of. At the same time, we’ve stained our grout {a little bit} before and it’s just faded with time and eventually disappeared, so I’m not too worried about it. Especially because it’s all in the name of fun, right?
♥
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A couple of days ago as Gracen was emptying and restocking Grandma Charlotte’s pantry shelves just for fun (obviously), she came across a can of condensed milk. GC had no idea why she had it or what she’d ever do with it, but I had an idea… Shiny homemade paint!
I’ve made this paint tons of times to use at the painting station in my Kindergarten classrooms, and it’s always been a hit. It’s bright and thick and glossy, and when used on an easel, it doesn’t drip. The best part is that when it dries, it maintains its sheen. Plus it’s super simple to make… In fact, Gracen made it mostly on her own – it’s that easy.
Here’s what you need to start with… A can of condensed milk, some food colouring, some small bowls or cups (muffin tins work well too), and some teaspoons.
To get started, we poured a little bit of condensed milk into each cup.
We went with 5 separate cups this time around, but you can choose to do more or less.
Next, Grae squirted in about 5 drops of liquid food colouring (more for an extra vibrant finish and less for a more pastel look).
We stuck to the basics and added purple, but obviously you can create any colours you choose.
Then my little helper gave each a good stir.
Here’s what we ended up with.
With our new paints made, it was time to get creating.
I’d say she was pleased with the results, wouldn’t you?
The other fun part about these paints is that they drizzle really nicely due to their thickness… And who doesn’t love some messy fun, right?
Here’s the end result. A beautiful masterpiece created by our beauty. ☺
The parts that were just painted on regularly took a few hours to dry, while the puddles took about a day and a half to lose all of their stickiness, but it does eventually dry and it does stay very shiny. Because of the milk and sugar content of this paint, I can’t say how long it will last for, but it looks lovely for now.
♥
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In preparation for Little G’s Valentine’s Day tea, this morning we experimented with making our own finger paint. I found the recipe on Pinterest a long while back, and knew it would come in handy one day soon.
Gracen carefully added all of our ingredients into a large measuring cup first…
And then enthusiastically mixed it up!
Then we warmed the mixture on the stove…
Separated it into small bowls, added a few drops of food colouring, and stirred it well. It looks pretty, right?
We’ll have to use the paint a little more (right now we’ve just got in zip-close bags for mess-free painting), but I’m not sure that I’m sold on this recipe. Although it’s very quick and easy to make, uses ingredients that most people already have in their kitchen, and has a great texture while warm, ours turned out like Jello when cooled. It did soften up again when stirred well, but I think next time we’ll try cutting down the amount of corn starch a little. The other important thing that the recipe doesn’t mention is that the mixture needs to be stirred constantly while heating. We didn’t do that the first time around and ended up with a clumpy, bumpy mess! We’ll have to see what it looks like when we actually put it on paper…