Homemade Puffy Paint and Lots of Fun!

I know this is a food blog, but today's recipe was something so fun and interesting that I just had to share with you all. Its a great indoor activity for a rainy day and is so much messy fun that your toddler will love you for it!

The kids and I were supposed to go for a fun barbecue planned by the Jesus Youth here yesterday but the weather was pretty horrid in the morning and so I had to improvise. Of late I've been feeling like I've been neglecting Kochu a bit as I just no longer have the time to play with him and housework and office work taking precedence over some quality time with my baby. If I'm not feeding Chackochi, then I'm either cooking or cleaning or tidying up. So yesterday I thought, to hell with the dishes and the washing, I'm going to do something fun with Kochu, for a change! :) So my new mantra is

We did two wonderfully messy activities which involved lots of food color and flour and rice but today I'll share the recipe for the wonderful Puffy Paint that we made.

I've saw this recipe homemade puffy paint online, and I've been meaning to do this with Kochu for a while. There are a few different recipes for puffy paint, I opted for a recipe shared at Happy Hooligans which used self-raising flour.

We had so much fun with this, watching the colors come through as it mixed with the flour. I knew Kochu would just love the transformations that take place with puffy paint and he did!

I should warn you, it can get quite messy with this activity. I put a towel on top of our dining table so that cleanup was a breeze afterwards.

To make your own homemade puffy paints, you’ll need:

• 1 tbsp self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp of water
• food coloring

Mix the flour and salt together in a small bowl.
Add a little bit of water and stir until you get a smooth, thin paste.  Add your food coloring, and mix well.

Paint onto paper using some q-tips and get creative!

Put the painting into the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Do not leave the microwave unattended during that time. Carefully remove the painting and observe the wonderful transformation! Be careful – the paint may be hot when it is removed from the microwave.
Ta daaaaa......

 My masterpiece :P

In the end, we just chucked blobs of paint to create a layered painting! Love it! :)

After all that colorful fun, we needed a rest. So the kids pigged out on Oreo's while I cleaned up :)

And ofcourse, Chackochi wanted to cuddle afterwards and get all that biscuity gooey all over me in the process!! Aaahhh pure blissss..... :)

Here's a sneak peek into the 2nd activity I mentioned at the beginning of the post. But let's save that recipe for another rainy day, shall we? Until then....

NOTE:
I was not very precise with my measurements. I wasn't too fussed if we had a slightly heaped tablespoon or if we were slightly under with the measurements. I also found the mixture very thick so I added more water.