Candy Cane Activities - Candy Cane Puffy Paint

Christmas Art for Kids - Candy Cane Puffy Paint

My boys ask to paint every day, and if they had to choose just one type of paint it would be our homemade puffy paint.  We've made scented puffy paint with Kool Aid, candy apple puffy paint, and today I am sharing how to make candy cane puffy paint to make some fun Christmas art for kids.  To lead up to the Christmas season my boys and I have been enjoying a variety of candy cane activities including sensory play with candy cane shaving cream, candy cane rice, candy cane cloud dough, and  making candy cane suncatchers.

How to Make Candy Cane Puffy Paint

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Supplies:

• flour
• salt
• water
• peppermint essential oil or peppermint extract
• red liquid watercolor paint, food coloring, or tempura paint
• white liquid watercolor paint or tempura paint (optional)
• squeeze bottles
• ziploc sandwich bags (optional)
• funnel
• black construction paper

Directions:  To make puffy paint mix equal parts of water, salt and flour in a sealed ziploc baggie.  You can also mix in a bowl, but using a bag makes it easy to get all the lumps out of the mixture.  To make our candy cane puffy paint I combined 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup salt, and 1/3 cup of water in two baggies.  I added peppermint essential oil and red liquid watercolor paint to one batch and a small amount of white liquid watercolors to the other.  The white paint is optional.  Since this paint recipe has a flour and salt base it is naturally white, but the water turns it slightly yellow.  I wanted a truer white, so I added a bit of white paint.

After squeezing the bags long enough to ensure all the lumps were gone, I cut small slits in the corner of each batch.  Using a funnel I squeezed the paint into the squeezy bottles, layering the white and red for a candy cane effect.

I set the paint and some black cardstock outside on our toddler table, and my three younger boys began creating.  J-Bug's exact words were, "It smells just like Christmas!"

I mention it every time I post about puffy paint, and it's worth mentioning again.  Squeezy bottles are a wonderful tool for building fine motor skills.  The kids are busy creating art, and the fine motor exercise is an added bonus.

It was fun watching the layered colors swirl together and blend just like a candy cane.  After awhile the paint all came out pink, but it was still pretty and a whole lot of fun.

I painted some candy canes to show the swirling colors, but I had a hard time capturing the mixing colors.  If you want a true red and true white I suggest filling each bottle with one color instead of mixing.  My boys loved the colors just as they were and didn't mind when they all turned pink.  They were too busy painting and creating.

For more candy cane activities and Christmas art for kids follow me on Pinterest.

More candy cane activities:

Candy Cane Rice ~ Candy Cane Sensory Play  ~ Candy Cane Suncatchers