Clean and Dirty Fun -- Bubble Paint

If you live in the Ames area and haven't visited People Place, you really should. I did an earlier post about them in conjunction with my community resources posts, so you can read more about them here.

On Friday, I was charged with leading a fun craft for the under 3 set, so I went with a favorite at my house.

Bubble paint is such a great craft for little ones and older children alike.  For the little ones, it is a way to introduce colors, and mixing colors to get different colors.  It offers them a chance to blow bubbles (always fun!), practice some fine motor skills, and the texture is so fun.

How do you make it?  It's an easy recipe, just three ingredients:

1. 1/4 C. dry tempera paint powder 
2. 3 Tablespoons of tap water
3. 2 teaspoons of dish soap

I have done it with the liquid tempera paint, but it works much better with powdered because it's thicker and makes brighter colors.  We mixed it all together in a bigger cup, then poured it into smaller cups that were easier for small children to handle (and less to spill).  Insert straw...

Then blow...

And blow...

Pat the paper onto the bubble piles.  You can do one color or all colors, or any combination. 

The bubbles are fun to pop!

Depending on the type of paper you use, the completed paper can be used as stationery, wrapping paper, or cut up for a collage.

The mess looks intimidating, but a wet rag will activate the bubbles from the dish soap, and it cleans right up.

The kids?  Well...