Kool Aid Sand Paint

Scented Sand Paint - Recipe for Play

We love adding texture to our homemade paint.  We've made sand paint before by adding play sand to tempura paint.  When I saw Play Create Explore's scented sand paint recipe I was inspired to create one of my own!  You know how we love making scented recipes for play with Kool Aid right?  A few of our favorite Kool Aid paint recipes include puffy paint, finger paint and watercolors.  I really enjoy mixing different materials to create new textures and therefore new experiences for my kids, so I got to work creating a new scented paint recipe.  The great news?  This one is so simple!

How to Make Sand Paint

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Supplies:

• flour
• Kool Aid
• craft sand
• water
• foil

Directions:  J-Bug (4) made all of our Kool Aid sand paints.  The recipe is really that simple.  Mix roughly a cup of flour with a packet of Kool Aid (or a couple teaspoons of powder if you buy in bulk) with a little water.  I added the water slowly to get the desired consistency.  I really wanted a thick, textured paint, so I was careful not to add too much.  Add play sand and mix well!

We used grape, lemon, blue raspberry and orange Kool Aid.  As always, the yellow needed a few drops of food coloring.  I didn't have any green Kool Aid, so that batch was unscented.  I just used green food coloring.

We usually paint right on paper when I make textured paints, so this time I decided to change it up a bit.  I covered our picnic table with foil for an added sensory experience and to add even more texture.  I put spoons in the paint, so the boys could scoop some onto the foil then set out our paint scrapers to explore with print making and textures.

There was also quite a bit of finger painting.  The sandy texture against the foil was too much for little fingers to resist exploring.  Ahem, I might have stuck my hands in it quite a bit, too.

All four of my boys painted for quite awhile, but as usual Peanut (25 months) stayed the longest.

I liked the way the purple and blue paints turned out the best, probably because the paint color was slightly lighter than the play sand, allowing the sand to really stand out.

It was especially cool watching the colored sand mix with the different paint colors, creating beautiful swirls.

After painting the boys went for a swim in our play pool.  Tank (25 months) came back to the paint after a bit and asked to dump what was left on the ground.

This paint recipe would double nicely as sidewalk paint!  The grainy texture of the sand felt so cool against the pavement and extended our play time as we explored it in another way, sticking our toes in the mixture.

For more homemade paint recipes follow me on Pinterest.

If you're wondering why I add Kool Aid to paint and other recipes for play, I do so for the heightened sensory experience.  In addition to sight and touch, Kool Aid paint stimulates the sense of smell making this a multisensory art experience.    More Kool Aid paint recipes:

Kool Aid Puffy Paint ~ Kool Aid Finger Paint ~ Scented Sidwalk Chalk Paint