Guest Blogger: This Mama Loves Her Bargains

We are privileged to have the blogger behind This Mama Loves Her Bargains writing for us today. Here is a little more about her, straight from the horses mouth!

I’m Queen B, known to 3 as “Mommy” and Brett to most, and I’m the author of the blog, This Mama Loves Her Bargains. I love being home with my kids most of the time, and you can often find me finding deals, clipping coupons, crafting, gardening or playing word games. I love living green and am trying to teach my kids by example to take care of our beautiful earth we live on.

My kids ALWAYS want to paint, glue, cut, playdough, craft, sticker, color- you name it, they love crafts. All three of them. This can make for some very messy crafting sessions at our house with little ones. So I was thinking after seeing some SUPER simple recipes online for sidewalk paint that maybe, just maybe, we could take the mess OUTside where it can wash away in the rain, and the kids can craft to their heart’s content.

Ingredients: Equal parts water and cornstarch. Food coloring (you can use natural or commercial- the color is super diluted so it really shouldn’t stain clothing). Gather up any old paintbrushes that are laying around that you don’t care about, mix up the paint (you know those 32 oz yogurt containers you’ve held on to, because you just *know* you’ll want to use them? Here’s your chance!

I did 1/2 cup corn starch, 1/2 cup water.  For those of you who like to toss in some learning, this is the time to incorporate discussion about math and halves, plus you can discuss the scientific aspects of the separate components, and then the components mixed together. Then of course, the changes when you add some food coloring drops to the mix.

You aren’t going to get a super bright color with this recipe, but in my experience that doesn’t really matter!!  Also, the paint doesn’t always show up well until it dries, but that’s part of the fun!  Below you can see the paint wet, and then dry:

Play clothes are a VERY good idea for this activity- not because the paint will stain, but because the kids will likely 1. spill the paint and get the ground wet, 2. forget they painted the ground and sit on it while wet or 3. a combination of 1 and 2 in no particular order.  Don’t panic.  This is why I suggest play clothes.

The kids can go to town and paint the driveway, walkway and even the fence to their little hearts’ content, feeling their creative vibe and running with it. When else have they got a canvas as long as a driveway to put their works of art on?  It’s really fun to see just what they’ll come up with and a great way to pass a summer day.  When they are all done, you can do some sprinkler play to clean up and because you have used cornstarch and only a tiny amount of foood coloring, there’s no harm that will come to the earth or any of its creatures by leaving the paint to wash away in the rain.  Of course, your kids may want to wash it away with a hose, but that’s up to you…