Thrifty Thursday: Homemade Paints for Kids

In a million years, I never would have thought of this idea to make homemade paints for my son to paint with.  I thought it was a great idea the instant that I saw it on a website that I can't find now (which I even commented on while I was there, please leave me a note if it was yours because I feel horrible not having a link here)  because I thought that I had a can of sweetened condensed milk in the basement cupboard that was past its expiration.  I went to the basement to pull all of the cans that were going to expire in the next few months.  After a little searching, I found the old can of sweetened condensed milk that was going to be made into paint!!!

Open the can and scoop a spoonful into each container that you are going to use.  Add three or four drops of food coloring or until the color is deep enough for your taste.  I got this food coloring from a Easter clearance at Target a few years ago and I think that this was the first time that I have even used it!

I wet the paint brush and used it to mix in the color so that I didn't have to get different things dirty and sticky.  The background of the picture is our painting drop cloth.  I got two of these on clearance (possibly even before my little man was born) and we use them all the time for messy eating, painting, coloring.  Early in their life span, they were the decoration for his first birthday because they were brand new and you can see they are getting worn from good use :)

I didn't know exactly what containers to use but I decided on my pottery because I thought that it would clean up easily.  I started with the small container and then went to the bigger container.  The bigger container was better because the paint brush should sit right in it without falling out.  Additionally, super excited because it did clean up easily and went straight into the dishwasher.

Check out the close up of the paint!  They were really thick and shiny.

This can be used as as finger paint or with brushes.  My son used one brush for each color so that he didn't have to mix and match.  I hope that you try this super easy trick to make quick homemade paints for a great summer activity.  Check out one of the four pictures that my little man made with the paint.  This was the dried picture which was still shiny.

There are so many reasons to try this super easy and frugal paint but with warm weather right around the corner, it is a perfect outside craft to keep the little ones busy for as long as you can supply paper or cardboard for them to paint on.  Make sure you leave lots of time for them to dry since it is hard to tell when the picture is actually dry!! 

I hope that you try this great craft soon!!!

Shared on Homemade Mondays