I’m always looking for new ways to entertain my kids, especially ones that don’t make a big mess in my house. I love this DIY puffy paint or sidewalk foam as it’s something new and different and when we use it outside we can simply hose it off when we’re done.

It’s easy to make with just a few ingredients, you may even have most of them at home already! Make a couple bottles or make a lot in a variety of colors. Then get outside and play and enjoy some Vitamin D.

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We usually use our homemade puffy paint outside so this recipe is NOT intended to dry and be kept. You can use it as part of a sensory bin or on paper as well just don’t expect it to be kept. There is no glue involved in this recipe.

Supplies

These are the supplies needed to make 6 colors, 3 batches total which will give you 2 colors each if desired. If you want to make less you can see in the directions area how much is needed per batch and make only one if desired.

3 cups of flour
3 cups water
6-8 cups of shaving cream (2 cans) (Buy at Target)
Food coloring red, blue, yellow
6 squirt bottles (Buy on Amazon)

For this, you must use regular shaving cream NOT gel. You want the old fashioned kind like Barbasol and the like.

How to make foam paint

Batch Recipe

You will be making 3 “batches” total to make 6 colors of sidewalk foam like we did.

1 – Mix together 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water. Blend until smooth.

2 – Add food coloring. Start with about 10 drops of either red, blue, or yellow. The color will lighten once you add the shaving cream so make it darker than your desired color.

3 – Fold in around 2 cups of shaving cream until the color is well blended. Fold don’t stir or the shaving cream will lose its fluff and collapse.

4 – Transfer half of it to a ziploc bag. Snip the corner then squeeze it all into your squeeze bottle. (Trust me, this is easier than trying to shove the sidewalk foam into the small top of that bottle)

Why are we only transferring half of the mixture? So we can make more colors of course! As you can see we made 6 different colors with only 3 bottles of food coloring.

Making more colors!

Take the other half of your batch, let’s say you made the batch red. Add blue food coloring to the remaining mixture until you have a purple color you like.

If the mixing causes it to lose it’s fluff you can simply add a little more shaving cream.

	Batch 1	Batch 2	Batch 3
Full mixture	Red	Yellow	Blue
Half mixture	Add blue = purple	Add red = orange	Add yellow = green

What if I have lots of different colors of food coloring?

If you have more colors of food coloring at home and don’t want to mix colors yourself feel free to make 6 separate batches using 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup water, and 1 cup of shaving cream each.

Learning Opportunities

Color Mixing

One of my favorite parts of this activity is that there’s no cooking or heat involved so kids can help make it. If you’re going to mix colors to create purple, orange, and green make sure to get them involved.

Let them guess what color blue and red might make and see what happens when they’re actually mixed. It’s your very own instant science experiment!

Sensory Play

Let them get their hands dirty. This paint mixture is great for sensory bins too or just some messy outdoor fun. Sensory play is great for kids. This project is good for tactile senses.

Let them feel it with their hands. Is it hot or cold? Is is soft? Is it squishy? What happens when you squeeze it. Senses are how kids explore their world so don’t be afraid to let them get a little messy.

If it’s too cold outside or you don’t want to do the clean up you can also play with your foam paint in the bathtub and just wash it away when you’re done.

We hope you enjoy this fine sidewalk foam paint. Feel free to share photos of your creations below.

Yield: 6 squeeze bottles

Foam Paint

Fun foam paint made from shaving cream. Works great as sidewalk paint.

Active Time 30 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Materials

3 cups of flour
3 cups water
6-8 cups of shaving cream (2 cans)
Food coloring red, blue, yellow

Tools

Whisk
Ziploc Bag
6 squirt bottles

Instructions

Mix together 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water until smooth.
Add 10 drops or more of red food coloring and mix to combine.
Fold in 2 cups of shaving cream.
Transfer half the mixture to a ziploc bag. Then snip one corner and use it to pipe the mixture into one of your squeeze bottles.
Add blue food coloring to the remaining mixture until it's a nice purple color. Add more shaving cream if mixture gets too flat. Use a ziploc bag to transfer remaining mixture to a separate squirt bottle. You'll now have 2 colors.
Repeat steps 1-6 2 more times.
Second batch use Yellow food coloring then add Red to second half to make orange.
Third batch use Blue food coloring then add Yellow to make green.

Notes

Be sure to use shaving cream NOT gel.

You can also make 6 half batches and color each separately if you have enough food coloring colors.

Recommended Products

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Easy DIY Foam Paint {sidewalk paint for kids}

Supplies