Homemade Water Color Paint - Crayon Resist-Art

The water color paints we made up last night were finally dry and ready to use tonight. Using instructions we found at www.magicalchildhood.com/crafts/watercolors.htm, we mixed together:

• 3 Tbs. baking soda


• 3 Tbs. corn starch
  
• 3 Tbs. vinegar
  
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. corn syrup.
  

Then, we divided the mixture into cleaned and dried medicine cups (you could use soda lids, or a Styrofoam egg carton as well). Finally, we added several drops of food coloring to each cup, and mixed up our paint. The process had a real old style artist studio feel to it - even if our pigment was store bought food coloring.

After trying out the paint while it was still wet, we left it to dry for 24 hours.

Tonight we used our homemade paints to do a little crayon resist-art. We didn't have any water color paper on hand, so we had to settle for card stock, but it still worked out pretty well. The children drew on the paper with crayons, and then filled in with color (the younger children just washed over their pictures). The older children were modeling their art after a Joan Miro inspired project we saw at http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/.

The homemade paint performed well, this recipe will be a keeper for us. Using paint they had mixed and shaded themselves, added to the children's enthusiasm a good deal. And, since this recipe calls for corn syrup, instead of glycerin, we'll most likely always have the ingredients on hand.

It's great to be a homeschooler!