I really enjoy playing outside with the kids. I love when they are messy beyond belief. I especially love when they are using their hands. Liam crawled for approximately one week on all fours. Prior to that, he motored around the house dragging his body with clumsy thumps of his arms on the floor. He is very right hand dominant and his hand is considerably weaker. Since he won’t do much with his left hand if he can avoid it, I am always looking for ways to increase his strength.
We are raising our children to love color. Matt is an artist by trade and I appreciate every bit of art: the color, the style, the passion. Liam strongly prefers the color red and Sylvi is showing preference for purple and green. We color and paint and draw all the time. My back patio shows Liam’s attempts to be a muralist on our white walls with wet chalk. I don’t know any child who doesn’t like chalk. But, I do have a daughter who thinks it’s a snack, so I had to come up with another option for outdoor color that wouldn’t matter if she ate. I found several chalk type sprays on Pinterest and decided this was my answer.
I bought plastic spray bottles for $0.99 each at Target in the travel/sample size section. I then used a ratio of 2:1 for hot water and cornstarch. Mix together the water and cornstarch and simply add food coloring until you get the shade you’d like. (I used a very thin spray because the nozzles on my spray bottle seemed to clog very easily, but you honestly could use equal parts cornstarch and water.) The kids loved the spray and I wasn’t worried at all when Sylvi wound up with it all her face. As a quick note, though, if you’d like to make your sprays in advance, the color does separate but is resolved easily by shaking. I store mine with the straw removed from the nozzle so it doesn’t clog.
The color spray washed right out from the kids’ clothes and the patio. And Vito’s fur. And my hair. And our hostas. Needless to say, Liam loved playing with the squirt bottles and it’s been great to see him using his hands together. What fun outdoor art are you doing with your kids this summer?
