I don’t know about your kids, but mine have a tendency to go overboard with art supplies.
They’ve been in this phase where more is more, and paint is no exception to the rule.
Now, I can afford to buy my kids paint every now and then.
But not every week.
Paint is a fun way for them to play with colors and textures. I would even go so far as to say, yes, they are expressing themselves through art… however, lately it seems like they really just like mixing colors and using squeeze bottles
So in an attempt to save money/save a trip to the craft store where I always end up spending too much, we made our own homemade flour paint.
I’m excited to share this recipe with you guys because it was fun to make with the kids and simple enough for us to make on a whim.
I’m guessing most of us have flour, salt, and food coloring on hand most days of the week, so this paint recipe gets a big stamp of approval for me.
I love having activities that I don’t have to pre-plan for.
Here’s what we did.
How to Make Homemade Paint
Here’s what you’ll need to make paint:
- water
- flour
- salt
- food coloring
The ratio for this paint is 1 part water : 1 part flour : 1 part salt. Pretty simple, right?
To get the best paint, here’s what I did. Dissolve the salt in warm water.
Whisk the flour and saltwater together with food coloring.
Make sure there are NO LUMPS!
Lumps clog up squeeze bottles and make kids really mad.
In our first attempts, I didn’t take care to whisk the lumps out as well, and the paint kept getting stuck in the bottle. So at times, we had to poke a toothpick around the top and shake the bottles.
But my second batch turned out better. I also added a couple tablespoons of water to make the paint a little bit runnier.
The texture is very much like the “mud” we made for this activity.
Squeeze Bottle Painting
Once I was satisfied with the consistency and appearance of our homemade paint, I transferred each color into an empty squeeze bottle.
The consistency I was looking for, if you’re curious, was pancake batter.
I wanted it thin enough to come out of the bottle easily, but thick enough not to run all over the paper.
The girls took turns with each of the four colors to make their paintings.
Lia, age 20 months, wasn’t really able to squeeze the bottles as hard. I made the paint runny enough to slowly drip out of the bottles, and you can see her painting is just a bunch of drips.
She still loved it.
Elena, age 3, was able to squeeze the paint out more easily. She had to use both hands to squeeze and move the bottle around.
The Completed Artwork
Flour paint looks really messy and crazy, but it cleans off easily and actually dries great.
You can’t really see in this photo, but the salt makes the dried paint sparkle a bit, which the girls loved.
The paint dries hard and didn’t flake off the paper.
My kids got paint on the table and it wiped off cleanly.
I found dried paint the next day on the floor, but that flaked off easily when I scratched at it.
All in all, DIY paint is a fun alternative to store-bought paint. It’s not a perfect substitute, but for us it was just what we needed fo a fun afternoon of squeeze bottle painting!
Your Turn to Try Squeeze Bottle Painting
Do you think your kids would enjoy making paint?
Homemade Flour Paint
Supplies
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 cup salt
- food coloring
Instructions
- Dissolve salt in warm water.
- Whisk the saltwater with flour until smooth. Make sure there are no lumps.
- Add a tablespoon or more of water if thinner paint is required.
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!
