Driveway "Paint"

I saw an idea online to make driveway "paint" using just cornstarch, water and food coloring.  We had all of those ingredients on hand and LOTS of paintbrushes (I mean, lots of them -- newly discovered after I had just organized my craft closet).  There was no specific recipe, you just mix the items together and ... paint.  Anything you want, however you want.

This was a perfect activity for the both Jack and the girls (and the neighbor girl next door).  I mixed everything together and then joined them in the driveway for some creativity.

For the sake of easiness, I mixed the colors in cupcake tins.  It kept the colors separated and was so simple to rinse out afterwards.  I used gel colors (that I keep in the pantry for coloring frosting) and they worked very well.

The kids quickly discovered that some paintbrushes worked better than others for certain pictures and this afforded them the opportunity to put more thought into their designs.

Jack loves to paint.

Samantha took the time to create mini (detailed) drawings.

Working in their own space and still sharing the two cupcake pans between them -- a real win for me!

Sophia's expression pretty much sums up everyone's feelings on this project.

As the "paint" dried, it had a chalky appearance, but it stayed longer than a chalk drawing would. The first rainstorm that moved in washed it all away, leaving a blank canvas for us to start all over again.

Some notes to myself for next time:

1.  The less cornstarch used, the better.  I was trying to achieve the consistency of real paint, but learned partway through that the runnier it is, the easier it is to paint with.

2.  I don't need to make that much paint in each cup; we had lots leftover that just went to waste.

3.  Pink doesn't dry pink.  It dries almost a brown color.