2025 31 Days of MOO 6 Finger Paint
We have a long weekend coming up, and then the Easter school holidays will be here, and that usually signals a change in the weather, and more indoor activities will be needed over the next few days for those in the cyclone zone, so I thought I'd share a very old MOO, probably one of my first, before I realised I was MOOing.
Fingerpainting is a fun activity that can keep kids and adults busy for hours, but even cheap fingerpaints are expensive. I've been making this recipe for about 33 years. Our kids used it, it was a hit at playgroup, it kept kids occupied during birthday parties and because it's easy to make, and uses pantry ingredients, I could whip up some colours and have the kids painting in just a few minutes.
Our Armstrong family finger-paint recipe, used by our own three kids and goodness only knows how many others is:
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup cornflour
2 cups cold water
food colouring
laundry powder (I use my Cheapskates Washing Powder)
4 small containers (re-cycle yoghurt or sour cream or cottage cheese containers, the lid will help to keep the paint fresh in the fridge)
Mix the sugar and cornflour together in a saucepan. Add the water and whisk gently to get out any lumps. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is well blended. Divide the mixture up and place in 4 separate bowls or plastic containers. Add a different food colour to each bowl. Also add a teaspoon of laundry detergent to each colour and mix.
The addition of the laundry detergent helps to keep it a non-staining finger-paint. Just be sure junior doesn't eat it. This finger-paint will keep for a few days in the fridge.
You'll get 4 tubs of fingerpaint for under 10 cents if you use generic sugar and cornflour and depending on the initial cost of your food colours.
A tip: powdered food colours give truer colours than the drops available. While they cost more on the initial purchase they also last longer and you use less to get a good colour. I recommend powdered colours over the drops but the choice is yours.
You'll find food colours in the cooking aisle at any supermarket. For powdered colours try cake decorating shops or the cake decorating zone in Spotlight.
Fingerpainting is a fun activity that can keep kids and adults busy for hours, but even cheap fingerpaints are expensive. I've been making this recipe for about 33 years. Our kids used it, it was a hit at playgroup, it kept kids occupied during birthday parties and because it's easy to make, and uses pantry ingredients, I could whip up some colours and have the kids painting in just a few minutes.
Our Armstrong family finger-paint recipe, used by our own three kids and goodness only knows how many others is:
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup cornflour
2 cups cold water
food colouring
laundry powder (I use my Cheapskates Washing Powder)
4 small containers (re-cycle yoghurt or sour cream or cottage cheese containers, the lid will help to keep the paint fresh in the fridge)
Mix the sugar and cornflour together in a saucepan. Add the water and whisk gently to get out any lumps. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is well blended. Divide the mixture up and place in 4 separate bowls or plastic containers. Add a different food colour to each bowl. Also add a teaspoon of laundry detergent to each colour and mix.
The addition of the laundry detergent helps to keep it a non-staining finger-paint. Just be sure junior doesn't eat it. This finger-paint will keep for a few days in the fridge.
You'll get 4 tubs of fingerpaint for under 10 cents if you use generic sugar and cornflour and depending on the initial cost of your food colours.
A tip: powdered food colours give truer colours than the drops available. While they cost more on the initial purchase they also last longer and you use less to get a good colour. I recommend powdered colours over the drops but the choice is yours.
You'll find food colours in the cooking aisle at any supermarket. For powdered colours try cake decorating shops or the cake decorating zone in Spotlight.