Homemade Paint Recipe {Starburst Paint}

Starburst Paint Recipe - Candy Activities for Kids

I am so excited to kick off our candy series!  Yesterday I announced that I'm teaming up with several fabulous bloggers to bring you some incredible candy activities for kids.  Each day this week there will be a specific theme.  Today we are painting with candy.  If you are a regular to my site you know how much I love making homemade paint.  For our painting with candy challenge I thought it would fun to try to make a homemade paint recipe using Starburst.  Starburst candy smells incredible, and I knew that the added scent would make this paint a wonderful multisensory activity not to mention a great way to use up some of the Starburst candy your kids collect this Halloween.

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Supplies:

• Starburst
• cornstarch
• water

How to Make Starburst Paint

Directions:  Separate the candies by color and remove the wrappers.  Unpeeling candy is a great fine motor activity for children, so you could enlist the help of your kids for this step.  Melt one color of Starburst on the stove over medium heat.  When the candies begin to melt add cornstarch and water.

Use a whisk to stir constantly, and be sure to get all of the lumps out.

The paint is done when it thickens.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Repeat for all four colors.  If you don't plan to use your finger paint right away, store it in the fridge in an airtight container.

Measurements:  For each color I used about 20 pieces of candy, 2 cups of water, and 1/2 cup of cornstarch.  You can easily make a smaller batch if you have less candy.  We use this recipe whenever we make finger paint.  You can also replace the Starburst with Kool Aid.

This Starburst finger paint was so cool!  It smelled incredible, and the texture was soft and perfect for smearing on paper or, as pictured, foil.  While it smelled good, it didn't taste great, so Tank and Peanut (26 months) weren't tempted to eat a lot.

The cornstarch neutralizes the stickiness of the candy, so the paint is easy to smear.

The texture depends on how well you whisk the paint while cooking.  I was better at getting all the lumps out in some of our batches than in others.  The lumps only add to the sensory experience.  

The finger paint can be stored in an airtight container for a few days.  If it gets too thick pour it into the blender to make it smooth and creamy again.  *Please note* Our hands were tinged pink for the rest of the day as with most finger paint recipes, but they were clean by the next morning.

J-Bug (4) used the foil covered paint to practice forming letters.

For more homemade paint recipes follow my Recipes for Play board on Pinterest.

Here is our complete list of homemade paint recipes.

Be sure and check out the other painting with candy posts from the series:

Nerds Watercolor Trees from Reading Confetti

Painting with Licorice from Housing a Forest

Glossy Skittles Paint from Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Come back tomorrow to see our sensory play with candy.