Bathtub sidewalk chalk painting

Generally by Friday I have spent 50-60 hours working and 45-55 of those hours happen when little S is with me. I am grateful that I work from home I just feel guilty because sometimes mommy needs to put her head down and bust through a spreadsheet and can't stop to read the book more than 10 times. I try to put together an activity each Friday that we can do so he get's a sensory play experience to celebrate the coming weekend.

Today we whipped up some super easy sidewalk chalk that we played with in the bathtub:

The ingredients:

corn starch - about 2-3 cups
water - about 1 cup
food coloring - 2 drops each color - you may need more the purple needed a lot more.
Craft sponge paint brushes.
muffin tin


I mixed a big batch of the cornstarch and water then poured it into the muffin tin to create separate colors - this is about the consistency of pancake batter which is difficult to tell from the pictures. If you add too much cornstarch it becomes a rock and in my experience although you could add more water and try to loosen it up it's easier and less frustrating to start over.

Next I mixed in a few drops of food coloring into each cup and added a craft brush. I stripped little S naked and put all of the fun in the bathtub. I got a strange look at first like a what am I supposed to do with this in the way of me getting to the water. (He LOVES to play in the water) Once I showed him that he could paint the side of the tub or drip it around he got the idea and played a good 30 minutes or so before we started the clean up/play/shower process. I took some pictures along the way so you can see how it went.

This is us just getting started:

Splash painting is fun mommy:

A big mess that is an easy clean up, just turn the shower on and watch the colors all run out of the tub. This project made bath time super fun. He got to explore color, using a paint brush, dripping versus brushing, how cold the chalk paints were, and what it felt like when they dried on him. He also got to watch the blending of colors during clean up and we shared a fun and creative play experience that total cost was less than 60 cents. I had the craft brushes - I got a big package at Nasco for 1.08 for 20 brushes so the cost for the 6 would be 30 cents. I used 2 cups of cornstarch about 20 cents worth since the box was 80 cents total and a few drops of food coloring I already had maybe 10 total cent value for a total cost on the project of 60 cents. I washed and dried the craft brushes, they are good for our next project.