Supereasy, non-toxic paint at home!

Today was Day 1 of Spring Break for Lani, and I had to salvage the day after a morning trip to the doctor's, for what seems like a sinus issue but the doc insists is a cold . . .we'll see. I had promised Lani a fun-filled Spring Break consisting of trips to the beach, zoo, picnics, etc., and today was shot thanks to the doc visit and then Naya's afternoon nap - so, paint project! Saved by Pinterest, again.

Homemade Doodle Paint
From:http://www.delawarecountymoms.com/2011/07/getting-crafty-with-nicole-homemade.html
Supplies:
Squeeze bottles for the paint: I used 12 oz. bottles that I found from Wal-Mart for $99/each - the original blogger says you can get bottles in the chocolate making section of any craft store, and she herself found them at Jo Ann Fabrics
- Flour
- Salt (I had to use Sea Salt for one of the bottles, apparently it didn't make a different)
- Water
- Coloring: You can use tempera paint (wet or dry), food coloring or natural coloring agents such as beet juice, raspberry or blueberry juice reduction, etc. I used neon food coloring (note: I only use food coloring for art projects - I wouldn't add artificial dyes to food for my babies to ingest!)
- Glass/Plastic bowls
- Spoons/Whisks
- Funnel: optional...but it helps with getting the paints into the squeeze bottles

Here are the simple instructions:
Follow these instruction for each paint color you'd like to create!
In a bowl, mix equal parts: Flour, Water & Salt. Following the original blogger, I used 1/2 cup of each. I could easily double it based on the size of my bottles, but wasn't sure I'd have enough salt. Mix this really well with a spoon or whisk...no clumps. You can add more or less water depending on the consistency of paint you'd like, but it seemed that an equal (or just barely less) amount of water worked the best. Once that mixture is blended well, add a tiny bit of coloring. The more coloring you add, the more vibrant your paints will be. Once the paint is blended with the coloring, use your funnel to pour each paint color into its own squeeze bottle.

The original blogger notes that this paint works best if you use a thicker paper (or even posterboard) to doodle on - because of it's water base, it might soak the paper. I used cardstock, but am going out for posterboard later today! Also, the original blog entry has some cute printables to cut out and paste onto the bottles - I don't think our paint will last long enough for it to be worthwhile for me to do all that this time around! But if we continue making it, definitely. Cute and fun project!

I also love her suggestion of giving these as a gift: If you use all dry ingredients (flour, salt, powder tempura paints), you can put the ingredients minus the water into the squeeze bottles and package 'em up really pretty. Just include simple instructions to 'just add water'!