Perfect Puffy Paint

My daughter and I used this super fun, sparkly puff paint to decorate our Valentine’s cards this year. And while I intended to post this recipe before Valentine’s day, alas it did not happen. But this craft activity need not be Valentine-specific, and can be enjoyed any time of the year. Like all craft recipes that I love, this puffy paint is easy to make and entirely safe and edible (they’ll taste it once but never again) for little ones.

Puffy Salt Paint

¾ cup salt

½ cup white flour

½ cup water

Food colouring

Combine salt, flour and water in a mixing bowl, adding food colouring until paint reaches your desired colour. Spoon paint into a clean plastic squeeze bottle, then show your little artist how to squeeze puff paint onto paper to create a puffy masterpiece. The salt makes the puff paint look sparkly when it dries.

Helpful Hints:

·        Empty ketchup and mustard bottles work well for this project, and leftover paint can be stored in the fridge for future projects. Just be sure to label the bottles with a felt marker (lesson learned the hard way!).

·        This paint is quite thick, and works particularly well on sturdier paper such as cardstock or cardboard. Try raiding your recycling bin and cutting up old cereal or cracker boxes for use as inexpensive art supplies.

·       Allow paint to dry overnight. Happy puff painting!