Puffy Paint
My daughter loves fish and I have been wanting to make another batch of homemade puffy paint so I decided to combine the two. We love this paint because it dries puffy even the big globs! I was planning on doing this just with my daughter but when my son heard we were making puffy paint he put away his Lego and ran to the play room. Making your own puffy paint is so simple and this time we mixed in some colored glue which added a lesson in color mixing into the fun. If you are making a big fish like we did make sure you have a place for it to dry away from little hands for a good 48 hours. Smaller puffy paint creations will dry faster.
- Gather your materials. You will need some craft paper ( paper grocery bags cut open work great), shaving cream ( plain jane variety), plain white glue, colored glue , a marker, tape, a bowl and some spoons. If you are adding a face you will also need some googly eyes and a pipe cleaner for the mouth.
- Start by taping down your paper and draw a big fish.
- Now spray some shaving cream into the bowl. The official recipe I like calls for 1/2 cup of glue and 1 1/2 cups of shaving cream. I just eye ball it now we do it so much. My son loves spraying it.
- Add glue.
- Stir.
- Pop it on the fish. She hated getting her hands dirty – I had an old towel and baby wipes handy.
- Add colored glue.
I was very impressed she didn’t try to eat it. 
- Explore. Both my kids opted for the spoons. They take after their dad, I was eager to mix it with my hands.
- We popped it in my master bath that is never used. It was a perfect place to be out of my daughter’s reach for the two days. But first we added two eyes and a pipe cleaner mouth.
- Let dry. Ours dried for 2 days then I cut it out.
Over at my other blog I have a fun fish themed idea for children just starting to recognize their colors. Check it out.
Books About Sea Animals
Secret Seahorse 
O Is for Orca: An Alphabet Book
Baby Beluga 
DIY Puffy Paint Projects !
All three puffy paint projects we did this year were huge hits. The combination of a sensory experience making the paint and a creative one by transforming it into a moon, cookie or ghost! Many of you wrote in that it took your child some coaxing to get their hands dirty, this is so normal many young kids need reassurance with something new. Another tip, use whatever scent of shaving cream you like the most because your house will smell like it for hours. Click on the pictures for the full how to!
Puffy Moon
Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookie
Puffy Ghost
- Gather your materials. You will need some white glue , plain shaving cream, brown paint, a spoon, a bowl, a paper plate, some brown paper, and a circle paper punch or scissors.
- Start by mixing your puffy paint. Put 3/4 cup of shaving cream and 1/4 cup of white glue into a bowl and mix. I let my son explore freely with it. A little too freely- ours ended up on the walls. It washes off easily.
- Add in some brown paint. There is a spoon in there, it’s just under a lot of shaving cream.
- Mix well.
- Glop it on the paper plate, taking your time to feel it in all it’s goopiness.
- While your child is playing / painting the plate cut out some “chocolate chips” from the paper.
- Add them to the cookie, no need for extra glue.
- Let dry.
Shape Sorting Bakery
- Gather your materials. You will need a table or low surface, a tray or pillow case, some play money and a set of cookie shapes. We are using a toy set of cookies but tracing cookie cutter shapes and cutting them out would be an easy alternative.
- Play! I had my son sort the cookies first, then we set the prices and with the play money I bought cookies. We had so much fun our bakery is still set up in the playroom.
Book!
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Moonscape !
I used to do cloud paintings with this easy mix yourself puffy paint, but it struck me while reading one of the books below that it would make a great moon surface! The paint dries puffy and looks like the uneven surface of the moon. All of that though is secondary to how much fun my son had, I was planning on posting this next week but couldn’t wait!
- Gather your materials. You will need some strong paper ( I am using craft paper but a cereal box or paper grocery bag would do), shaving cream, white glue, a marker and scissors. My son asked for crayons to color his moon first so I obliged.
- Start by drawing a “Big round moon” or any phase your child wants.
- If you want start by coloring it with crayons.
- Time to mix the paint. You will need 1/2 cup of glue
and 1 1/2 cups of shaving cream.
- Mix !
- Now explore. My son kept saying “Goopy mama, goopy hands!”
- Spread and explore it more on the paper.
- Let dry- I let it dry for 4 hours and the thicker parts were still goopy in the middle. I’d let it dry overnight to make sure.
- Cut out your moon !
“Night Goes By” by Kate Spohn is a book that explains how the sun goes down and the moon comes out and the cycle continues. The sun , moon and a star are all very cheery and enjoy their lots in life. The star and moon play all night! The book is simple and while I wasn’t too into it, my son really liked it. I would suggest it for toddlers and young preschoolers.
” The Moon” by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Tracy Campbell Pearson is a beautiful book. The poem was written in the 19th century but my two year old loved it paired with these stunning and warm illustrations of a family’s adventures at night. I really am so impressed with how well the words were put to life by the pictures, and my son loved it. It’s inspired me to find more classical literature and poetry to share with my son.
Moon Rock
Pick Up !
