Monday, November 17, 2008

Thrifty or what?

Today I have made a discovery that could potentially save me a fortune. You see, my son loves to paint - which is a good thing, of course. The trouble is that he squeezes great big gloops of paint out every time and the Crayola finger paint he has costs (gulp!) $14.99 a pop. That's a lot! (I only bought it because I had a little left on a DJs voucher that I needed to spend.)

On Saturday I was lucky enough to find Robin Barker's cookbook at the library and, flipping through it, I noticed a recipe for fingerpaint - the answer to my prayers! It's so very easy to make.

Place 1/2 a cup of cornflour, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Cook over a medium heat until the mixture eventually thickens (5 minutes or so). Put paint in containers and add whatever food colouring takes your fancy.



Of course the paints don't have the desired vibrancy of bought paints ... but my little tacker didn't seem to care.



What remains to be seen is if the food colouring comes off his hands and his clothes (hmmm...).

PS: I suppose every other parent in the world knows how to make paint and here I am thinking it's some great revelation...!

5 comments:

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

I've made that paint before - and you're right, it's all about the texture not the vibrancy. There's also a recipe that is similar which makes 'slime'...and kids LOVE that. I'm sure you could google it to find it.

Unknown said...

No I didn't know how to make paint,
So did the colouring come off????

Stomper Girl said...

Another parent here who didn't know you could make fingerpaint. And I'm a Robyn Barker devotee.

kurrabikid said...

The update is that the charming blue-ish tint to my boy's hands did come off in the bath. I've just thrown a load of clothes in the washing machine ... so yet to see just how easy it is to get out!

M said...

That's what we had as kids. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with butchers paper and hands full of slimy finger paint. Yum. edible too.