Water Balloon Painting!

This activity is definitely messy fun! You have been duly warned. It was an idea that I found here. While it sounds a bit kooky, I am always up for new ways of painting, so we had to try it out. The hardest part was getting them to be patient while I filled all the balloons, but once we were ready to go, the kids had a blast! If you're not afraid of getting of a bit messy, this is a great summer activity.

{Finished Painting by Mia, Age 6}

{Finished Painting by Logan, Age 3}

Materials:

• water balloons (Ours were from Dollar Tree.)
• paint (Ours was powdered tempera that I mixed up in small batches.)
• plastic dosing syringe (like the ones you get for administering oral antibiotics to little ones)
• paper (Ours was a roll of craft paper I got from a garage sale. I've also seen it at Dollar Tree. If you happen to have a roll of butcher block paper, that would work, too.)
• scissors
• masking tape
• bowl to hold the filled balloons (Nice, but not necessary, this came in handy as well when it was time to pick up the pieces of popped balloons.)
• towels, washcloths, wipes, or paper towel (for clean-ups!)

Directions:

1. I strongly recommend having everyone change into old clothing before starting. I asked my kids to go barefoot, but the pavement was hot, so we compromised and they wore their Crocs (easily cleaned up, so no worries).
2. Mix up your paints. I have 4 colors of powdered tempera paints: red, yellow, blue, and green, so I just mixed a small bit of water with each of those in my plastic paint cups. Then, I mixed red and yellow to get orange and red and blue to get purple, so we had a total of 6 colors to use. (Tip: If you have ready-made tempera paints, you can skip this step, but I think that powdered temperas are a good investment. You can make up as little or as much as you need for each use and it's easy to adjust the consistency to accommodate the type of paint project you are doing. In the end, I think they are cheaper, plus you don't have to worry about them drying out and being ruined.)
3. Add some paint to each water balloon, using a plastic dosing syringe. I think we filled about 20 balloons in total.
4. Next, add some water to each water balloon so that they are inflated more. Don't add too much water, though. They don't need to be as big as possible. (Tip: Honestly, I am wondering if this step since we had trouble getting them to pop, anyway, and this just diluted the paint. We tried only one balloon without the water, and while it was much smaller, it popped just the same -- with being stomped -- and the paint remained vivid and undiluted.)
5. Cut some paper off of your roll of craft paper (or butcher block paper) and adhere to a flat, smooth surface using masking tape. We did this in the driveway. Alternatively, you could weight the paper down with rocks, or skip this altogether if you are not concerned about it getting blown or moved in any way. (Tip: I recommend one piece of paper for EACH child. It's just easier this way.)
6. Now that you are all prepped, start making some art. Sadly, we found that the balloons did not pop when thrown at the paper. Rather, they bounced off and rolled away. So, I just suggested that Mia and Logan stomp on them, which they found to be great fun!

{Photos taken mid-pop!}

{See the splash? Messy fun!}

7.  Let your paintings air-dry. (Ours took about an hour on a bright, sunny day.) Then, remove them and display, if desired. Personally, I was thinking of this as a process-based project rather than a product-based one, but the results were pretty cool, so I found a place to hang each of the finished art projects. (Tip: Our finished paintings fit nicely on two different doors. I just made sure to place them above the doorknobs.)

DIY: Tempera Paint

Mia had the day off from school on Friday, and I already had the homemade watercolor paints ready to go. I also decided that was a good day to try out this tempera paint recipe that I had seen on Pinterest. To start off with, I should explain that the original recipe poster just said to use colored chalk, but I figured this was the perfect way to use up the little stubs of sidewalk chalk that are left over from last season. The larger size of the chalk would probably explain why it took me so much longer than it took her to make this paint. I will also say up front that this is messy as well as time-consuming to create, so you have been warned.

That said, it worked nicely, and the consistency was exactly what I had hoped for, very much like when I mix up powdered tempera paint. I am always up for trying a new paint recipe and since this is essentially how the old masters made their paint (just assume they that used whatever natural materials were available to add pigment in place of sidewalk chalk, okay?), I rationalized that making this type of egg tempera paint for the kids could also serve as a little art history lesson. (I probably have not mentioned this here before, but once upon a time I was an art major...) I actually only explained this to Mia, but she seemed to get the idea. So, here's the paint recipe. History lessons are optional.

{Crushed sidewalk chalk produces a vibrant palette!}

Materials:

• sidewalk chalk bits
• water
• egg yolk
• zippered baggie/s
• mallet/hammer
• kitchen towel
• spoons for mixing
• muffin tin
• paper or cardboard
• paintbrushes
• containers for soaking chalk

Directions:

1. Place each color of chalk into its own container and add enough water to soak the chalk. I used plastic bowls. (Note: Our sidewalk chalk is Crayola brand, but any colored chalk should work.)
2. Let set awhile. The original blogger said to do this for 15 minutes, but I found our chalk much tougher (maybe since it was larger?) and I ended up soaking it for 5 hours, significantly longer than 15 minutes!
3. Break up the chalk, one color at a time. At first I tried to do this by chinking away at it with spoons, but I quickly became frustrated. Then, I decided to try the original blogger's method of putting it in a zippered baggie, wrapping it in a towel, and then pounding it with a mallet. (She said to use a hammer, but once I opened the tool box, I saw the mallet and decided that was even better!) Tip: I found that I could wash out the baggie and then re-use it several times. I ended up tearing the first one after 3 tries, but the second one lasted me until I had a dozen paint colors in our muffin tin "palette."
4. Empty the crushed chalk into a muffin tin cup and stir in some egg yolk. I used about 1 teaspoon per color, which ended up being 3 egg yolks for 12 colors. Tip: If I had realized both kids would want to paint, I would have divided the colors into two paint palettes!
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all other colors of paint. 
6. Use paint immediately. We experimented with construction paper, drawing paper, and cereal boxboard panels, and all worked fine with this paint. Tip: Protect clothes with smocks or paint shirts or have kids wear old clothing before getting started. Tip: Cereal box liners work well for protecting your table. You can even wipe them down and re-use them, or you can toss them if you prefer. Tip: Since raw eggs are used in this paint, you will want to make sure that everyone washes hands after handling it, just in case, to prevent the spread of Salmonella.
7. I believe that the paintings themselves should hold up well, unlike those made with other food-based paints that we have tried. It worked for Michelangelo, after all! Currently our left over paints are in the refrigerator, and I see no reason why we can't continue to use them for a couple of weeks.

{Egg tempera paint on cereal boxboard}

{Egg tempera paint on construction paper}

DIY Colored "Sand Art" Jars

I had originally found this idea online while searching for rainbow crafts to possibly do for Mia's Care Bears party. I decided it wasn't a good activity to try with a large group of kids in my small dining room, but it was a perfect spring break activity for my own two kiddos. These turned out really pretty, and you would never know that they aren't even made of actual sand, but rather, colored salt. The most notable benefit to using salt instead of sand is that it is way, way cheaper. The cost was the only thing that had prevented us from making colored sand art jars in the past. Making your own faux "colored sand" is not difficult to do at home, but it is kind of messy. I think the process was fun, and the end results are beautiful, so it is totally worth a small amount of spilled salt, in my opinion.

One thing I did learn is that craft is better suited to school age kids rather than preschoolers, especially if you are using somewhat large jars as we did. Mia, at age six, had more patience for this than her little brother did. That's really a no-brainer, but I was hopeful that Logan would be able to fill his jar. He only managed 3 layers before he started being kind of naughty and salt was flying all over the place, and I decided to cut him off. Then, I packaged up Logan's left over "colored sand" in baggies in case he decides to try again tomorrow. Mia, on the other hand, ended up with 6 layers. Maybe the rule of thumb is that kids can make one layer per year of age? Okay, I'm not sure that is true, but that is how it turned out at our house.

As usual, they had different ideas for how to do things. Logan produced 3 layers in 3 distinctly separate colors, and Mia made her six layers alternating just two colors: pink and purple. However, she didn't make the layers all look the same. She colored for different lengths of time to produce different intensities of pigmentation so there is a gradation of color from darker to lighter as she went. I don't know if this was intentional or if it was the product of getting tired with the process and trying to speed things along. Either way, she was pleased with her finished "sand art" jar.

{"Sand Art" Jars by Mia, Age 6 and Logan, Age 3}

Materials:

• colored chalk
• paper
• salt
• glass containers with lids or corks
• cookie sheets (optional)
• Super Glue/hot glue (optional)

Directions:

1. Pour some salt onto the center of a piece of paper. We used black construction paper, which will later be re-used for chalk drawings, but any paper will work for this. Tip: To contain the mess, we first laid our papers on cookie sheets. I highly recommend using cookie sheets. The rim helps keep the salt from ending up all over the table and floor. (It's not perfect, but it helps quite a bit.)
2. Rub colored chalk back and forth over the salt until it is the color you want. We used sidewalk chalk for this, but you could use the smaller chalk that is intended for use on chalk boards. Tip: Show younger kids how to color with the sides of the chalk to make this process go a bit faster. Tip: You may want to re-center the salt occasionally during the coloring process since it tends to spread outward. To do this, just slightly fold up the edges of the paper until the salt slides back to the center. Then, add more color as desired.
3. Once the chalk is the color saturation you are looking for, carefully roll the paper into a funnel, and slowly pour the colored salt into your glass container. Older kids may be able to do this on their own, but adults should help little ones. Tip: We used these fun square glass bottles with cork stoppers that I found at the Salvation Army for 99 cents apiece. I had searched high and low for my old set of glass spice jars because I thought they would be perfect for this, but I have yet to come across them. You could also use baby food jars or small canning jars or any other glass container that has some sort of lid. Tip: If you want, you can turn and twist your container as you pour for different layered effects. Mia did this while I poured each layer.
4. Turn the paper over for the next color, and repeat steps 1 through 3. Do this as many times as needed to fill your jar or bottle. Tip: While filling, make sure not to shake the container or you may end up with a muddy brown mixture instead of vibrant rainbow colors.
5. Once your container is filled, place your lid on top and make sure that it is secure. Tip: Since we were using corks, I added a small ring of Super Glue to them before inserting them. You could also add Super Glue even if your container has a screw-on lid if it gives you peace of mind. Hot glue would work as an alternative if you do not have Super Glue.
6. Find a nice place to display your colored "sand art" jars. Ours look lovely on the sunny kitchen windowsill.

{Demonstrating the "proper technique"...}

{And here's Little Man's method. I love how her look seems to say, "You are sooo doing that the wrong way! He did switch after seeing a demonstration of "proper technique."}

Condensed Milk Painting

Yesterday, we tried out some condensed milk paintings. I saw this idea on Pinterest, but it comes from ECE Made Easy. I think we have tried making our own paints with just about everything that I have heard of, so we definitely had to give this one a whirl. I am so glad we did! It was lots of fun and we ended up with some neat results. They started off trying out different sized paintbrushes, including foam, and regular bristle brushes, and quickly switched over the finger painting, which is when things got really exciting. Mia came up with a paint dribble technique reminiscent of Jackson Pollack. And Logan, eventually learned that when he mixed all the colors together, it produced black. This paint produces colors that are glossy and vibrant. They are also very 3-dimensional, sitting well off of the paper's surface. All of these characteristics, reminded me quite a bit of when we did corn syrup paintings.

Even though it was messy to do, the condensed milk cleaned up easily with a damp washcloth (for the kids) and a damp sponge (for the table). So, please don't let the mess factor frighten you. This was pretty affordable. I only needed to purchase condensed milk, which was about $1.60 for the can. We ended up with 10 or 11 paintings total, and there was still some paint left, although as I mentioned Logan's had been mixed to the point of muddiness. Unfortunately, like the corn syrup paintings, since they are made from food, I don't see them lasting long term. Some of the paint was applied quite thickly, so it had to dry overnight. Now, it appears to have small white spots all over, which may be mold. However, it was a cool experience to do with young kids! I would recommend that you do it for the process, not the product.

{Condensed Milk Painting by Mia, Age 6}

Materials:

{The "Palette"}

• can of condensed milk
• food coloring
• mini muffin tins
• spoons for mixing (1 per color)
• paper
• paintbrushes (optional)
• vinyl tablecloth or something else to protect work surface
• old clothes/smocks are suggested
• cookie sheets (optional) 

Directions:

1. This is a messy project, so protect your work surface and make sure the kiddos are wearing old clothing or paint smocks. Mine wear designated "smocks" which are just old t-shirts of mine whenever we do stuff like this. Also, you may want to have a damp cloth on hand for cleaning children and a damp sponge for cleaning your table.
2. Pour some condensed milk into your containers. We used 12-cup mini muffin tins, which worked very well. You could also use bowls, cups, plates, Styrofoam trays, or ice cube trays. Tip: If doing this with more than one child, make it easier on everyone and give each child his own container.  
3. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container of condensed milk and mix it up. I used about 3 drops per muffin cup. Tip: I knew that I had to use separate spoons to avoid color contamination. So, to make it easier on myself, and to keep from going through all of the spoons in the house, I gave both kids the exact same colors and systematically mixed them one color at a time. So, I mixed red for one child and then used the same spoon to mix red for the other child. Then, I got a new spoon and mixed the blues, and then I got a new spoon to mix the greens, and so on. I still went through 12 spoons, but this was smarter than using 24 spoons!
4. Give the kids some paper and paintbrushes and let them create. Or, if you are don't mind, let them paint with their hands. We tried using cardstock, finger paint paper, and construction paper. I think all of these papers worked fine, so you should be able to do this on most any type of paper that you have on hand, especially since you are doing this for the experience, not the final product. Tip: You can first lay the paper on a cookie sheet, if you want. It won't contain all of the mess, but it will help.
5. Lay the paintings flat to dry. You should then be able to display them for a few days. Note: I am hoping to shellac a few to see if this will preserve them, but I don't know if it will work.

{Painting with a foam paintbrush}

{Perfecting her splatter technique}

{Condensed Milk Painting by Logan, Age 3}

Fizzy Fun

According to Pinterest, I saved this idea 32 weeks ago, and we just got around to trying it yesterday. I'm not sure why I waited so long. It is quick to prep for, doesn't require many materials, and I don't think it cost more than a few cents (except for purchasing some eye droppers, which I know will get plenty of use). I don't know if this activity counts as science or art, or both, but it was pretty fun for my little man. I guess you could even argue that this helps develop fine motor skills because he was concentrating very hard while working with the eye droppers. Dropping colored vinegar onto the baking soda elicited lots of "Wow" reactions for 15 minutes. Truthfully, I was hoping this would entertain him for a bit longer, but being a boy, he had to find out what would happen when he dumped ALL of the vinegar into the cake pan of baking soda. At that point, he exclaimed, "Whoa! That BIG bubble is so cool!" 

{Note the tongue sticking out, the sure sign that a kid is hard at work!}

Materials:

• cake pan or clear glass baking dish
• baking soda
• vinegar
• food coloring
• muffin tin
• eye droppers
• tablecloth (optional)
• towels/washcloths/paper towels, etc. for spills

Directions:

1. Fill your cake pan or baking dish with a shallow layer of baking soda.
2. Fill your muffin tin cups mostly full of vinegar. (We used a 6-cup mini muffin pan and I filled 5 of the 6 cups. The empty cup we used as a place for resting eye droppers.)
3. Add a couple of drops of food coloring to each cup of vinegar. Stir to mix. I think I just used the eye droppers for this, but spoons work, too, of course.
4. Let your child use eye droppers to drop the colored vinegar onto the baking soda for fizzy fun.

A Few Notes:

• This is not a mess-free activity. We prepped by laying a vinyl tablecloth on the table. Then, we dressed Little Man in his paint shirt, an old t-shirt of mine that we close at the back of the neck with a clothespin. His hands got stained with the food coloring, which is not a big deal. It washes off eventually, but just be aware that this will almost certainly happen.
• We had one eye dropper at home, and I think it was purchased from a natural foods store. The other four eye droppers I just purchased this week at our local small-town grocery store. They are smaller and I found them near the checkout along with other candy making supplies. The four-pack cost $2.99, which I felt was reasonable enough.
• If you do not have food coloring, get some. It is very inexpensive, and you can do so many things with it. I recently found that the Kroger brand packages of four colors were on sale for $2.99. This is the time of year to find it on sale, with Easter on the way. I am planning to do a post soon about all of the different projects we have done using food coloring, so stay tuned for that.
• Don't have eye droppers? Check your medicine cabinet. You might have a dosing syringe or something left over from some oral medication. Or, see what ever else you can find that will work, and feel free to share your thoughts.

When DIY May Not be a Good Idea: Homemade Cloud Dough

I am sharing this because I want everyone to know that contrary to what people may believe, I am not some kind of Super Mom. Although I often try to come up with fun things to do with my kids, they don't always go well as I hope. I love homemade craft materials, so today we today we made Cloud Dough. (Mia informed me that they made this at preschool and called it "Moon Sand.") This turned out to be a perfect example of something that should be filed under "What Was I Thinking?!"

To be clear, Mia and Logan had a blast with this stuff, so that wasn't the problem. It is neat to play with since it is soft and flows through your fingers, but it can also be molded. Both kids enjoyed making "sand castles" on the dining room table. It was just insanely messy, and caused me more stress than I would have liked. I don't know if I didn't mix it long enough or if I really just should have let them play with it in a larger container. My kids poured it out of the plastic container I used to mix up the Cloud Dough, and it was everywhere by the time they were done. (The good news is that this kept them entertained for at least half an hour, maybe more like an hour.)

Instead of using 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil, I used 4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of baby oil to make our batch of Cloud Dough. (I only had so much baby oil. It was left over from when I used to make my own baby wipes solution. If you are interested in another craft you can make using baby oil, try this wave bottle.) Let's just say that I am glad I halved the recipe, and it was good that I needed to vacuum, anyway. If after reading this, you still want to make your own cloud dough, (I know it's making the rounds on Pinterest, which is where I first heard of it), consider having it be an outside activity, or at the very least, plan on doing some serious vacuuming and/or sweeping afterward.

{Before}

{After}

{You can use cookie cutters, rolling pins, or any other tools you would normally use with play dough.}

{Of course, you can just use your hands, too.}

{See, it can be molded, which is cool, right?}

{The end result, while less than ideal, does show how much fun these two had!}

Bubbles, Bubbles, Everywhere!

Earlier this month, I decided we should have a bubble day. We tried out three different recipes for homemade bubble solutions and we also experimented with homemade (and other unconventional) bubble wands. Some ideas worked out better than others.

{This first picture is from the "Bouncing Bubble Solution." That is why they are wearing mittens. Unfortunately, this not only did not make "bouncing" bubbles, it didn't even make bubbles. I don't know this is because it was supposed to "set" for 24 hours and our batch "set" for 48, or if our distilled water was too old -- if that is even possible, or if it just doesn't work.}

{I made each of the kids their own plastic bottle bubble blower using Gatorade bottles from the recycling bin. I cut off the bottoms along the indentation (see photo) because the plastic was too tough to simply cut off the bottom portion. Water bottles are made of thinner plastic and would have worked better, I think, but we don't buy those.}

{I poured out some bubble solution on a baking sheet, and it worked well for the kids to dip their new bottle bubble blowers into the solution. I don't know if it shows up in the picture, but these blowers make nice big bubbles and are very simple for the kids to use.}

{This was another easy to make DIY bubble blower. I just twisted some pipe cleaners into big wands. I made circles and hearts, but in the end, bubbles are all the same shape so it doesn't matter what shape you make. They work nicely, which is really what is important to know.}

{We played with other kitchen utensils as bubble blowers. Cookie cutters were not the best we tried, but they do work. I found some of the ideas here.}

{Slotted spoons and slotted spatulas make good bubble wands. Wire whisks do not, unfortunately. It seemed like it would, but I was wrong.}

The other two recipes for bubble solution came from here. The one called "Fancy Homemade Bubbles" I won't share because I don't think it is worth sharing. I am not sure what makes them fancy other than the sugar, perhaps? And more importantly, it wasn't the best solution, so we won't be making it again. I was very tempted to make colored bubbles, but I really felt that it would turn out badly, and I didn't want to stain clothing or anything else. Ultimately, I think this is the best recipe (or at least the best we have tried). The name says it all I think. We made it with glycerin which I got in the Wilton section of Jo-Ann, which I am sure is not the cheapest way to buy it, but it came in a small bottle and I knew we would only need a small amount. Since I had a half-off coupon, it only cost me $1.50, which is about what I was willing to spend on what might have only been one day's worth of fun. I do have about 1/3 of the glycerin left, so we will get to make more bubbles later in the summer. I will have to try it with Karo syrup sometime, too.

Best Homemade Bubble Solution

1 cup water
2 tablespoons light Karo syrup or 2 tablespoons glycerin
4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid (We used blue Dawn.)
Mix together and have fun!

Corn Syrup Painting

Here is a messy, but fun idea for painting using items you probably already have in your pantry. We did this indoors with lots of newspaper to protect everything. (Just don't allow paper to dry on the newspaper because it will likely stick.) You could also do this outside on a warmer day, which I think would be ideal. The only problem is that I was afraid to display these paintings when they were finished because I didn't want to attract ants or just plain have a runny, sticky disaster on the walls. I would say this project is about the process more than the finished product. (By the way, the finished product takes about a day to dry.) The colors are brilliant and in the end, the paintings are shiny and quite attractive, but I wouldn't suggest saving them for posterity. The idea for this one comes from here.

{"Daddy on a Summer Day" by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• paper
• crayon
• corn syrup
• bowls
• spoons
• food coloring
• paint brushes

Directions:

1. You will need one bowl for each color you are making. Pour in a small amount of corn syrup. We used about 1 tablespoon per bowl.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl and mix with a spoon. We used 3 drops each of red, yellow, blue, neon green, and neon purple.
3. Draw your design onto paper using a crayon. Glossy art paper was recommended by the original poster, but I had poster board and paper plates on hand, and both worked fine.
4. Fill in design by painting with corn syrup.



{The end result is a glossy raised texture that resembles pottery glaze.}

5. Allow to dry. (This takes a long time... Some of ours were still smudged easily after 24 hours.)

{I painted the design on a paper plate, allowed to dry, and then cut into an egg shape. Note: The colors do run together so less intricate designs may work better.}