After experimenting with our new squeeze bottles and using an inordinate amount of paint in the process, I made up a batch of salt and flour paint for more economical squeeze painting. The recipe is simple, non-toxic, and it costs next to nothing to make. Not to mention it’s pretty rewarding to make your own art materials. I made these while my daughter was napping, but next time I’ll include her in the process. The following recipe makes enough paint to fill 3 Nancy Bottles.
Blend 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of salt. Add 1/2 cup of water…
and mix until smooth.
Divide it up into three sandwich bags and add a few drops of liquid watercolor or food coloring to each bag.
Squish them up until the “paint” is well blended. Use Ziplock bags if small children are helping with this step. Add more water if you’d like a thinner paint. Cut a corner off the baggie and squeeze the paint mixture into your squeeze bottle.
The paint came out pretty thick, and was a little hard to squeeze. Next time we’ll dilute it with a bit more water. The good news is that the paint dries quickly. The squeeze paintings we made with regular tempera paint (2 days ago) are still wet, while these are already completely dry! And they have a nice puffy, sparkly texture too!
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the idea! And the fact that it is quick drying too. I’ll definitely try it out!
Yay! It dries a lot quicker than regular paint, but it’s not instant by any means. I didn’t actually clock it, but it was dry overnight…probably sooner. I’d love to hear how it goes.
thank you Rachelle!! Simone and I did this project and it worked out great. we painted on paper plates and created a mobile.
I’ll definately do this again.
I’m soooo happy to hear that this was a winner for you girls. I love the mobile idea, and I’m sure that N would love to do that too. Thanks for the good idea.
WOW. I love this site. The photography is incredible. Now if I could only get my mom off her ass so I could actually do these projects!
Glad you’re here, Lily. It’s possible that your mom needs a little break. If you think she’s truly slacking, I have a couple thoughts…you could try emailing her a link to the site, or Sharpie up some walls which will prompt her to organize some art projects for you. Let me know how it goes!
i LOVE this and so will my 4 YO. just found you from the artful parent (loved the interview). i’m thrilled to have both of your blogs as the creative inspiration i so desperately need. thank you!!
Susan! I’m so glad you found us. Jean’s site is an inspiration to me too — one can never have enough ideas!
we call this puff paint at my school and use it on large paper, folding the paper in half, then asking what do you see??
we usually pre-fold the paper
the kids get to fold it after they put the paint on and they really like being able to rub/squish the paper and then open it back up
oh, this is like making butterflies! what a good way to use these paints…adding that to the list!
My toddler is into squeezing things right now so we’ll have to try this sometime soon! Thanks for sharing this and so much more on your blog!
It’s such a pleasure! And thanks for taking a moment to share a comment — it’s so appreciated!
Thanks for the wonderful ideas! We have a 2 year old boy and I’ve been looking for activities to do with him. I’m so glad I stumbled upon your site. =)
Thanks for the nice note, Aimee, and welcome!! I’m so glad that you’re here
We just did this project today! It was so much fun! You are so creative! Thank you! I had bought ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles at the Dollar store. We didn’t split the mix up and just made 6 different ones. (there were 7 kids doing it) It was perfect and they had so much fun!
Thanks for this paint recipe! I wanted to plan a project for my preschoolers that involved “drip” decorating on letter d’s and this paint works perfectly when it’s a little watered down. They had a great time with this activity!
Cant wait to try it!
Hello,
I love this idea and I want to try it for texturing paper. Does it stick to the paper well? Will not it peel off soon?
Thanks
Romana
Hi,
Great paint! I was wondering if the water is meant to be hot though, to disolve the salt?
You have a great website! I’m excited to try this. I’m trying to make raised letters on canvas, and I think that if I pipe this, it’ll do just the trick! We’ll find out tomorrow!
Thanks,
Hailey
Hi Hailey,
Thank you so much! I’d love to hear how that worked.
Cheers,
Rachelle
May I just ask..why do you need to put salt in the mixture?? what is it’s purpose?? –school purposes..
Hi Faye,
The salt makes the flour more elastic and keeps the mixture from turning into rock-hard clay. We’ve played with just flour and water in the past, and it can be a nightmare to clean up if it begins to dry.
Rachelle
I am looking for a make your own paint for Blow Painting with Straws for a children’s craft table for the 4th of July. Do you think if I add a little more water this would work for this?
Hi Cindy,
That sounds like a fun activity. I think it would be too thick, but you might want to check out this post the I wrote on making paint to blow. http://tinkerlab.com/straw-blown-watercolor-painting/
You can quickly make the paint with a mixture of liquid watercolors or homemade dyes (if you want to really make your own paint) and water. I hope that helps!
Rachelle
{ 2 trackbacks }