Monday, July 18, 2011

Turning School Glue Into Paint


Painting with glue is one of C's favorite art activities. With glue about to be lowered to the next to nothing, back to school prices, I didn't mind sacrificing a few, half empty bottles, to make her "paint", today.


It simply takes a few drops of food coloring, in a half empty bottle of glue, like what we use to make homemade window clings, and glue pendants. The amount of food coloring, depends on the shade you want, but a few drops go a long way.

Fresh glue can be added on top of the food coloring, to fill the bottle up to 3/4s of the way full, leaving room at the top, so the glue can be mixed together with the food coloring. I usually turn the bottles upside down for a while, to let the color blend all the way through...


...before offering it to the children, with a large pile of scrap paper.


The older children like to make detailed pictures, and designs.


But, C really likes to cover pages in dots of color, and geometric shapes.


Both of which dry, if not smeared, glossy, and puffy, and perfect.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

28 comments:

Sparklee said...

Fun idea! The pictures turned out great! (The hard part for us would be finding a safe place for the masterpieces to dry!)

Christy Killoran said...

It drives me crazy when I see the simplest, yet coolest, ideas and realize that it never even crossed my mind. We'll have to try this soon!

April said...

At the dollar tree they have superfine glitter that would be perfect to make glitter glue...yep I am def waiting for those 20 cent glue bottles!

Jennifer said...

Brilliant idea! Love love love your blog - thanks for the inspiration! :)

OurWanderingAdventures said...

LOOOOOVE this idea!!!

Kaysha said...

Love the idea! I had forgotten about colored glue. I think they used to sell it when I was younger, but I haven't seen it in a long time. I look forward to it with my little guy someday!

Phyllis said...

What a great idea!

Unknown said...

Awesome idea! And so simple! :)

Ticia said...

Oh my kids would love this.

Susan said...

This can also be used for children who are visually impaired. For the visually impaired white glue on white paper is almost impossible to see.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

I am definitely going to stock up on those glue bottles - what an awesome idea!

Lost-In-Space said...

I tried making this a couple of years ago, but despite the amount of coloring I put in it, it was very transparent, unlike your photos. Not sure what I did wrong.

Anonymous said...

Lovely kids and great paintings.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Lost-In-Space - I'm not sure. I've done this a number of times, both for window clings, and just for fun. We've used both Elmer's White School Glue, and the Rose Art brand. The food coloring I usually have on hand is McCormick's Food Color & Egg Dye. I'd say, try again.

Lauren at CookiesKids.com said...

What a great idea!

I agree with Christy - I'm so surprised this never even crossed my mind!

Bonna said...

Do you know how much glue I have left over from last year still? I can't wait to make some of these up. I usually have the children mix paint into their glue in cups and apply with a brush, but this is great for strengthening those little fingers!

4kids1mom said...

What a fantastic idea! We are doing this for sure :)

Joyful Learner said...

We tried this with black but the colors are much prettier! Must get more glue!

Jackie Higgins said...

Great idea. I shared it with my readers today. I can't wait to try it.
http://readysetread2me.blogspot.com/2011/07/back-to-school-collage.html

Rosie B. said...

Awesome Idea! I love fun and simple projects like this! I can see my kids using more glue in the future just to get those half empty bottles! LOL!

Love April's idea for "glitter glue" as well. Can hardly wait to try this out! Thank you for inspiring!

Renee said...

You can also make colored glue by putting the long colored piece of felt from the inside of a marker onto the glue bottle. It takes a few days for the color to completely disperse. I use it with my kindergarteners when teaching them to use just a dot of glue.

Rachael said...

I love this!

Brenda Park said...

LOVE it! I posted a linkback on my blog, hope you don't mind! My Mommy readers will love trying this with their kids. brendawritesablog.blogspot.com

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Brenda - Thanks!

Beth (www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com) said...

Super cute idea! And I love the pictures your kids created & the fun texture! I would love for you to link up at my linky party - http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/search/label/Linkey%20Parties!
Beth

Melissa said...

Thank you for sharing this great idea. :)

Kids Creative Chaos said...

I love this! Someone pinned it to our scavenger hunt and it got the most re-pins. We'll be on the blog tomorrow. Great idea!http://pinterest.com/kidschaos/pin-it-online-scavenger-hunt/

Bette V said...

Love this I do it all the time with my kiddos. Used it first to make raised dot number cards and the little ones asked to use it for pictures.