Today’s make-a-mess-at-someone-else’s-house project was Homemade Chalk Paint. JediBoy and I made this once or twice last summer, and I’ve seen it popping up on several blogs this month.
The recipe is simple: Put 1/4 cup water into a plastic cup. Add 1/4 cup cornstarch and several drops of food coloring - the neon colors and recipes on the back of the box add extra choices. Stir - then paint! The paint works well on sidewalks and driveways and will wash away after a few rains.
The five kids loved the paint and made some great creations, mostly on the garage floor to stay safely out of the way of cars and a steep driveway.
We gave BabyGirl a cup to paint with too, but didn’t add any food coloring so that she wouldn’t get too stained. She tasted it, dipped her hands in it, painted the railing and splattered the floor. What a great time!
Here’s the weird phenomenon we noticed: when BabyGirl dipped a piece of regular sidewalk chalk into her cup of cornstarch-and-water, Leigh pulled it out immediately and saw that the chalk had a hard coating. We experimented with more pieces of chalk, sometimes dipping it into several colors of chalk paint and creating several layers of coating on the sidewalk chalk.
Does anyone know why this happens?
(FYI, Leigh has suggested that I add a new category to my blog, and so I have.)
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