Make Your Own: Kool-Aid* Finger Paint

If you have been reading my posts for any length of time, you likely know that I adore homemade art supplies, particularly paints! I had wanted to try out this recipe for a few months and with the weather we have been having... Well, you know, no time like the present, right? (On a side note, was there ever such a thing as a polar vortex when we were kids? Doesn't seem like it to me. It's cold, people! I don't know if we need a special term for that. I believe it is used to be known as "winter.") So, back to the topic at hand. You need a "winter" weather activity to do with the cooped-up kids who don't have school again? This ought to do the trick!

{Little Man experiments with color mixing.}

Notes about the recipe: 
#1 I halved everything from the original (link above).
#2 When I say Kool-Aid*, I just mean any powdered drink mix. I used Kroger brand and made two batches, one with orange flavor and one with tropical punch flavor.
#3 Yes, this sounds a lot like a play dough recipe. This is almost all of the ingredients that we use to make Kool-Aid* Play Dough, although the proportions are different.
#4 It smells really nice.
#5 The paints have great vibrant colors! (And, I LOVE bright color, as you may know.)
#6 Despite sounding like play dough, the consistency is very good for a finger paint. In fact, I think I prefer this to the previous homemade finger paint recipe in that it is not at all sticky.
#7 This paint wipes up super easily with just a damp cloth, which earns high marks from this mama! (In case the other reasons stated above don't convince you to try it.)
#8 The only potential downside is that it makes quite a lot of paint, more than we need for just two kiddos. I plan to just share some with other families, so that solves that. It would work great for a daycare or a preschool class, also.

{Left: Orange, Right: Tropical Punch}

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid*
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons oil (I used EVOO. Whatever cooking oil you have on hand will work.)

Directions:

1. Place dry ingredients in a medium or large bowl. (I used two different bowls since I was making two batches.)
2. Add oil and boiling water and stir to combine. (I would say adults only since this involves boiling water.)
3. Use paint right away. (Don't worry. I checked and it was cool enough to the touch.) Finger paint paper is ideal, of course, but I imagine you could use any paper you have at hand. (I finally found that roll of paper that eluded me!)
4. The only thing I am not sure about is how long this lasts. Currently, we have it in sealed containers, and given its similarities to homemade play dough I am inclined to say it should last for several weeks or even months. (Our current batch of homemade play dough is 5 months old and still working great. Yes, you read that correctly. MONTHS! Really, I can't talk homemade play dough up enough!)

{My little realist creates jack-o'-lanterns.}