Squishy, squashy; wishy, washy

DH and I had more fun with LO today. I can't remember which blog I first found the idea for this, so I cannot give proper credit.  I have been wanting to try it for about a week now and when I Googled the activity, could no longer find the original post.  I did find the recipe for the "sidewalk paint" here though. The post I read last week had a similar recipe and suggested putting the paint in squirt bottles found at the dollar store.  Sure enough, I found condiment bottles there in packs of two for one dollar.  We mixed up the paint with a heaping 1/4 cup of cornstarch to 1/4 cup of water and stirred well.  We then added food coloring.  LO enjoys "cooking" so he was excited to help scoop and dump the ingredients.  He was a little disappointed that this recipe did not require tasting though!  After the mixing, I added several drops of food coloring, then poured the paint into the squeeze bottles.  At first I thought it was a little too thin and would run out of the bottles within seconds.  I initially added more corn starch to prevent this. 

 Once LO donned his art shirt and rain boots, we headed out to make a masterpiece.  It turned out that the thinner paints (closer to the original recipe) were best for painting.  I had left one bottle without coloring and it appeared bright white on the pavement.  The yellow and pink colors were also hits.  The green was a little less vivid, but also worked well.  LO had so much fun with his first four bottles, I had to run in to make more.  I used up nearly all of our corn starch on the first batch.  Fortunately our down the street neighbor (Mr. Tom) gave us his and it was almost full!  The second batch we made more yellow, white, and bright orange.  LO had fun running with the bottles, spinning, chasing me with them (I did not have my art shirt...need to have it next time), squeezing it on his shirt and shoes, and flinging the paint out.  DH and I made lines and shapes.  DH tried to write LO's name, but the bottles are better suited for more abstract designs.  With the second batch, I showed LO the we could run the paint down the railroad ties, and he enjoyed watching it trail down and splat on the pavement.  

All in all, I think we enjoyed this activity for at least and hour.  LO continued to enjoy looking at his creation for the rest of the day.  I had intentionally planned this for a morning when we were expecting rain later so it would wash away (in case our neighbors were not keen on street art, though I can't imagine they'd complain).  My heart sank a little when LO made the comment that he didn't want his art to go away.  How awesome that our 85% chance of rain all day today never materialized!  

After all that artistic expression, LO looked like he had been given body paint rather than sidewalk paint.  

DH came to the rescue and helped us get cleaned up.  The paint actually dried quickly and flaked off the shirt and out of his hair, so we had to wash his skin, then vacuum everything else.  As if that wasn't enough coloring, LO and DH then colored with markers while I fixed lunch.  After lunch, DH took LO for a walk which ended up being a trip to dig in the mud and dump it on Daddy.  

Needless to say, it was quite the messy morning around here.  How else to wrap up that fun than with a bubble bath!  

DH surprised me by joining LO in the tub in his swim trunks.  They had great fun in the bubbles and managed to get off the residual paint, markers, and mud to boot.  LO even tolerated the handheld shower for the first time after seeing DH use it to spray off bubbles. 

We started this morning with about an hour of trying to plan something fun for LO.  We discussed going to the pool, to the inflatables place, to the indoor playground or free play in a local rec center.  We spent so much time trying to figure out our options that we just made it too complicated.  In the end, we had lots of fun and much of it was spontaneous!  That's not our strong-suit in the Land of Nages, but it sure worked out today!