DIY paint that puffs up in the microwave? Sounds like a surefire hit to me! I saw this idea on Mommy Labs awhile ago and filed away for a rainy day. Today just happened to be the perfect combination of rain and bored kiddos, so I whipped up a batch – quick, easy, and SUPER fun!
We started with one cup of flour and mixed in 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and enough water to make it the consistency of pancake batter. We divided our mix into four parts and put them into snack size Ziploc baggies along with some food coloring. Part of the fun was squishing it all around to mix up the colors!
Rubber band the baggies like you would if you were icing a cake and snip off the teeniest little bit of the tip.
Paint away! When you’re finished, pop the painting into the microwave for 30-45 seconds and watch the paint puff up and grow – such fun! I loved that it was completely dry out of the microwave so we didn’t have to worry about any extra messes or accidents as our pile of paintings grew.
We made about ten paintings this morning, and we still have plenty of paint leftover so that Sawyer can have a chance to try it when he gets home from school too. Nothing beats cheap entertainment, especially with some fine motor skills practice and a built-in kitchen science lesson!
Johanna says
I shared this activity with day care staff during my training on Art in Early Childhood Education. It was a BLAST! The day care staff had so much fun as they made the puffy paint, created works of art and zapped in the microwave. We did an exhibit of their artworks at the end of the training. THANKS!
Alice says
What is a flour substitute
Theresa A. Secor says
I watch my grandkids every Friday and wanted to find something different to do. This was perfect! Now everytime they come over this is the project of the day! My grandson who is 4 almost 5 loves that he gets to help measure, and make the colors! I did realize an easy way to mix, and have less mess putting the mixture in the baggies. We have small tumblers and we used a regular size sandwich bag. I mixed the mixture in a 4 cup measuring cup, and then we put the baggie in the cup so it held it open and then we poured the mixture into the baggie from there. So much easier!
Kendall says
This was an awesome activity it was really cool watching the paint grow. The only issue we ran into was that there would be a clump of flour every so often and it would make the hole bigger. Other than that it was great
Molly says
This craft is a must! Its basically just putting bread dough on a paper and baking it. Making the paint and coloring it was difficult, but other than that, it was perfect! making pictures was fun, watching it grow was entertaining, it was super quick, and it was easy to clean up. As you can imagine, you cannot keep the papers that you decorated, but i didn’t mind that. This was an amazing time killer.
Miri says
Wow this looks great, am having some children with Downs Syndrome over today, and going to do this as an activitiy
Karen says
Is there an acceptable gluten-free flour alternative? My kid and I both have celiac and keep a dedicated gluten-free house. Would love to know if anybody has had any luck using a different sort of flour before I go spend $7/bag on one of the gluten-free blends. This sounds like something the little kids, teenagers and moms would enjoy!
Lucy says
We don’t have a microwave. What would you suggest for the oven temperature and timing? Many thanks
Heidi says
I’ve never tried it in the oven, Lucy, so I can’t say for sure. If you try it, I would suggest starting at a low temperature to make sure that the paper doesn’t burn.
Melissa says
This was great even with 4 year olds who mostly make a blob, they wanted to make earth. After the initial 45 seconds it took 15-30 second intervals more and it was done still and dry (mostly, i mean it was a blob they both did). I will definitely do this again and the 1 cup recipe was just enough for 3 bags of paint for them to use as much as they wanted. I made my batter a tiny bit too thin but was still manageable and i put them in the freezer for about 10 mins before use. Thank you!
jaden says
That sounds awsome !!!!
Marie says
What kind of paper do you use
Heidi says
Any kind of paper should work. We used cardstock, but you could use printer paper, construction paper, etc.