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Homemade Finger Paint

So, it rained and rained the other day.  I wasn’t really prepared to spend the entire day inside, so I had to come up with some fun activities for J and I so we didn’t go stir crazy.

I decided that making our own finger paints was the way to go.

Homemade Finger Paint

Please excuse the quality of my pics for this post.  The hubby had the good camera, so I used the camera on my phone.

I know that flour added to water over heat makes the water nice and thick, so I thought that would be the simplest way of making paint.
Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon liquid laundry soap (or dish soap)
  • food coloring
  • baby food jars (or something similar) to hold paints

I started out by adding the flour to a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the water slowly and stir until it thickens. 

Homemade finger paints

Pour the mixture into baby food jars.  I jar per color you plan to use.

Homemade Finger  Paints

Add a teaspoon of liquid laundry detergent into each jar.  Dish soap will work really well too….but mine is blue and I didn’t want to risk it changing the color of the paints.  The soap makes it glossy and WASHABLE!

2012-07-20 10.26.17

Add a few drops of food coloring into each jar.  I used gel colors.  Stir until fully saturated.

2012-07-20 10.28.44

And…that’s it!  Super simple huh?

2012-07-20 10.32.11

We let the paints cool while we had lunch, and then decided to try them out!

finger paint picture

I think they turned out pretty good!  They were a little bit watery, so next time I will cook them a bit longer to get it thicker.  Maybe I’ll try adding a bit less water next time.  The paint on his elbow washed right off!

This paint can also be used with brushes…we just decided to forgo them this time!

Come on over to my Facebook and Twitter pages to see more fun stuff!  I love connecting with my readers over there!
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by Amanda Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Play Tagged With: arts and crafts, DIY Toys and Games, homemade toys, messy play, paint

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jaime JJ

    July 24, 2012 at 11:32 pm

    Very cute post, love the pics. FSPDT

    Reply
    • Amanda

      July 26, 2012 at 7:29 pm

      Thanks Jamie!

      Reply
    • Ettamarie Cockrell

      July 29, 2012 at 6:57 am

      Amanda, How long will the paint last. I’m teaching toddlers this up coming school year. I want my paint and playdoh to be safe for them.

      Reply
    • Amanda

      July 29, 2012 at 5:28 pm

      Hi Ettamarie, I just made them 2 weeks ago and they are still holding up. I have no idea if they will last an entire school year or not. They are pretty cheap and easy to make, so easy to replace. I think it’s awesome that you want to use homemade supplies with your class! Thannks for reading.

      Reply

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