making soap paint

Recently I mixed up some soap paint to use at church with my kindergarten class...it was a hit! And after I brought the leftovers home, and my sister played with it, I thought it might be worth sharing here too.

Soap paint isn't really like other paint. It's fairly thick, and I'm pretty sure that it's most often used in the bathtub. But we used it for finger painting onto cardboard boxes from the recycling bin. I made a big batch, but here's the half "recipe."




SOAP PAINT

1 bar of Ivory brand soap
1/2 cup liquid laundry starch
1/2 cup water
Food coloring

1. Grate the soap on a regular grater. You want it to come out like fine grated cheese. My 7-year-old sister did most of the grating, and she loved helping!

2. Mix the remaining ingredients into the soap. We used an egg beater, and just kept mixing until it was smooth.

3. Add more water until you reach the consistency that you want. We added water, mixed and played, then added more, and so on.




When we mixed it at church, we didn't use any food coloring, but painted on colored paper. The kids used a combination of brushes and fingers, and we kept it fairly controlled (of course, it was just soap...so no worries about clothes and carpet!)

At home, we took it outside and let it get a bit messier. My sister played with it for hours! She kept coming back to it and mixing it again, and painting more layers onto the cardboard. The best part is, it smells so clean!



These are the kind of "messes" that I don't mind. I love seeing kids playing, creating, and experiencing things like this. Just don't put me in the kitchen trying to cook or bake with little ones...It's one of the few things that really stress me out!