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}

St. Patrick's Day Cookies

Recently I was thumbing through old magazines my mom gave me and tearing out ideas for future use when I came across a simple idea and wondered why I had not done this before: adding food coloring to the sugar cookie dough before baking. I think this came out of a 2 year old issue of Better Homes & Gardens, but I am not sure anymore. Normally, I get out our ingredients, mix up the dough, roll out our dough, cut out the cookies, wash the blades to the hand mixer and other bowls and utensils while cookies are baking, and then start a whole new mess mixing up a batch of frosting, but this avoids all that extra work (not to mention extra sugar, which face it, nobody in this family really needs). Smart right? Since I had just gotten the shamrock cookie cutter, this seemed like a good time to try it out, using green food coloring, of course.

My little kitchen helper and I used this recipe for cut-out cookies, which is a buttery cookie that is easy to cut out.

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix.
2. In another bowl, stir the flour mixture, baking powder, and salt together. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend until smooth.
3. I separated the dough into two balls since we were planning to make neon green and regular green cookies.
4. This is the point when we added food coloring. My little helper added much more then we needed, about 10 or maybe even 12 drops when 3 would have been fine. No big deal, though. Then, I used the hand mixer to combine it all again.
5. Then, I wrapped both balls of dough in plastic wrap and chilled them in the freezer for 15 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out cookies and place on cookie sheet. (Tip: I like to cover mine with parchment paper first.) Add sugar sprinkles, if desired. We used green, and lots of them when my little man was in charge.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on wire racks. Makes about 2 dozen cut-out cookies.

Fruit and Veggie Prints

This idea came to me from a book called The Little Hands Art Book: Exploring Arts & Crafts with 2-to-6-Year-Olds, which was given to me by a friend. Mia and I made these fruit and veggie prints yesterday and it is really quite fun! Plus, the resulting prints are pretty cool to look at. I think they are nice enough to frame and hang in the kitchen or dining room. I was also thinking they would look nice if done with fabric paint on aprons or kitchen towels, perhaps.

{I stuck with realistic colors for Cucumber, Carrot, Tomato, Celery.}

{Apple/Cucumber/Celery/Carrot by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• fresh fruits/vegetables 
• knife and cutting board (adult use)
• paint (any color)
• paper (any color)
• something to hold paint 
• foam paint brush (optional)
• newspaper (to protect work surface)
• paper towels, wipes, etc. (for clean-up)

{I got more inventive here.}

Directions:

1. Cut fresh fruits or vegetables in half. Most any would work. We used apple, banana, strawberry, celery, tomato, cucumber, and carrot because that's what I had on hand. I also think mushrooms, broccoli, and raspberries would be cool to try.
2. Protect your work surface with newspaper. (You may also wish to protect your clothing. Mia wears an old tee-shirt of mine as a paint smock.)
3. Pour some paint onto a paper plate or similar. (We used acrylic paint, which stains clothing, so take care if using acrylics.)
4. Either dip your fruits and vegetables into the paint or spread it on with a foam paintbrush.
5. Stamp the fruit or vegetable onto the paper to leave a print. (Experiment with various amounts of paint by printing repeatedly if desired. I found that the less paint on the fruit/vegetable made for a "cleaner" and more distinct print.)
6. Allow paint to dry and display your artwork.