Microwave Puffy Paint

(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.