(E was 27 months old.)
You’ll need:
- Flour.
- Salt.
- Baking powder.
- Water.
- Paint or food coloring.
- Paper.
- Paintbrush (optional).
How to make Microwave Puffy Paint:
Combine flour with salt and baking powder and add enough water to make a paste.
{There are different recipes out there, we went with equal parts flour and salt plus 2 tablespoons of baking powder which worked fine but check my remarks under “What I learned” below for what’s probably a better way. }
Add food coloring or paint {we used our trusty red tempera – we did this on Valentine’s day, after all 😉 } to taste.
How it worked for us:
Since it was Valentine’s Day, I cut out some hearts for E to paint on.
She mixed the paint herself
then dug right in with her paintbrush.
Our finished products, still wet – at least I thought we were finished…
E really enjoyed the popping sounds coming from the microwave that had me slightly worried – apparently, the edge of this old plate my mom randomly left at my house doesn’t only have a gold look but actually has some metal in it o.O
Thankfully, nothing bad happened.
Here’s how the hearts looked when they were dry:
What I learned:
- We could have cut way down on the salt. It would’ve been plenty if we’d added only about as much salt as baking powder, so about 2 tablespoons to a cup of flour. That also happens to be the recipe that Mummy Musings and Mayhem, where I first saw this, used (see link below). I think it would’ve helped the paintbrush glide over the paper more smoothly.
- If you handle the paintings too much, some of the paint can flake off or get pushed in.
- E’s shirt came clean again in the washing machine – I really do love tempera 😉
Additional suggestions:
- Do this with different colors for other holiday crafts or just for fun.
- Fill a baggie with your paint, cut off a corner and pipe the paint on your paper for maximum puffiness.
- If you want to skip the microwave or just want to try a different type of puffy paint to compare, check out our article on Shaving Cream Puffy Paint.
Inspiration: Mummy Musings and Mayhem.
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