family friday :: watercolors

last week i saw martha making homemade watercolors (as well as homemade sidewalk chalk) on her show. the boys have been all about watercolor painting lately so i thought we could try to make some of our own! the recipe was super easy and maybe took 1/2 hour including gathering ingredients and clean-up. super easy and fun project for the kids.



here are our watercolors when they're still wet. i put ours in an old mixing palette i had. the amounts fit perfectly in the large spaces.



and the boys, satisfied with their work!



and here they are after they've dried. our plan is to try them out this weekend. here's the recipe if you're interested:

homemade watercolors:
mix 4 tablespoons baking soda with
2 tablespoons vinegar until fizzing stops

add 1/2 teaspoon corn syrup
2 tablespoons cornstarch

mix until a uniform consistency

pour the mixture into individual egg carton cups (or other containers you have handy)

add food coloring to individual containers to create desired colors. (be aware that your purple will look really awful when wet. when it dries it becomes much more color accurate!)

color recipes:
reddish pink: 10 drops red
orange: 1 drop red, 6 drops yellow
yellow: 5 drops yellow
leaf green: 3 drops green, 7 drops yellow
sea blue: 5 drops blue
violet: 4 drops red, 2 drops blue