Here’s a simple project to put together that the children in your life will embrace enthusiastically. A Happy Hooligans post about sidewalk paint was the inspiration to pull together the limited amount of ingredients required to make sidewalk paint. We had all the ingredients, my four year olds love painting and it was an excuse to be outside.
Instructions (See original post as well)
Mix a rounded 1/4 cup of cornstarch to 1/4 cup of water. Add the water slowly into the cornstarch, mixing as you go, until you get to a dribbly, thick but not too thick consistency.
We didn’t have Wilton icing gel but used regular food colouring instead. After two drops the colours were a pleasant pastel shade.
We used small tupperware for each colour and had even smaller plastic containers (from play dough) to hold each brush. Each set of tupperware and smal containers was put on recycled trays that we get when we buy roast chicken. (We use these trays as organizers all over the house.)
Small spoons were in each tub of colour so that we could mix the paint colours vigorously to keep the paint smooth and not clumpy.
Explore and Experiment
Sidewalk painting is as much about process as it is about the end result. My preschooler were thrilled to have the opportunity to apply paint to our backyard patio. They enjoyed dribbling the paint, brushing it on, applying it to their legs, scooping it out with a spoon and poking at it with their fingers. The colours mix without dissolving into each other, producing pleasant results.
The paint washes away easily from the patio using a spray hose and comes off of the skin easily in the bathtub. The best part about this project was that it used ingredients that we stock at home.
Decorate For a Party
Whether or not you have young children at home, you could use the paint to create a Jackson Pollack creation outside your front door or on your driveway as a welcoming piece of art to visitors who are coming your way for a party.
Rainy Day Project
On rainy days when you can’t go outside, children can do an indoor sidewalk paint project by using this paint on coloured construction paper or a white paper plate. When the paint dries it will create a textured painting on the paper. The darker the paper the better the effect.
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Related
Here is a fun video to show children after they have tried sidewalk painting. Unlike most projects where chalk is used, in this one the artist uses paint: