I asked Landon if he wanted to do a project this morning, already having something in mind. He enthusiasticly said “Yes, I want to make a cloud!” I’m all for doing the things he wants to do. I’ve done a project in the classroom before with a mixture of shaving cream and glue to make a cloud like thing when it dries. BUT… we don’t have any shaving cream that foams up. So I searched for a homemade puffy paint recipe to see if there was something out there to use as a substitute for shaving cream and came across something better! Then as I was gathering supplies, Landon declared that he wanted to make a rainbow – not clouds. No problem:
I found the original recipe here and tweaked it a bit for what we wanted to do.
Materials
1/4 cup flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
3T water
4-5 drops of food coloring (more or less depending on how bright of colors you want)
Cardboard or something microwave safe (yes) that is firm
Construction paper
I put all the dry ingredients into a zip lock bag and let Landon shake it until it was mixed.
Then I mixed the water and food coloring and poured it into the bag, sealed it up again and let him squish it until it was a thick paste. You want a consistency that’s not too runny, but you don’t want it too firm or it won’t become “puffy” in the last step. We did this 6 times – one for each color of the rainbow.
I got a large piece of construction paper and put it in a box lid that would fit in the microwave (yes you read that right). I drew lines lightly for him to follow – he did a pretty good job! I cut a small hole in the tip of the bag and let him squeeze it out.
Once the artwork is done, microwave it until it’s done. I know that’s not very specific, but the directions on the website I found this from said 20 – 50 second. Landon’s took like 5 minutes. I just did it a minute or so at a time. You’ll know when it’s done because the paint will be firm (cooked) and not glossy anymore. You can see the difference in the bottom picture in the orange. The right hand side was done, the left (the big blob) was not.
