It’s been unseasonably warm this winter, which is great for me. I love warm weather. But, it’s still winter so those cold snaps force the kids to be stuck inside. Sure, it’s tempting to let the kids play video games, but why not encourage a little creativity? If you want something fun to do with the kids that doesn’t cost much money, (and who doesn’t?), make homemade puffy paint! This homemade puffy paint recipe has only three ingredients and can be mixed together in minutes. While it is a little messy, this is fun to mix up and fun to let harden into puffy shapes. You can make gluten free puffy paint with one simple adjustment!
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How to Make Homemade Puffy Paint:
You’ll need flour, salt and water. Yep, that’s it! If you want to make the recipe gluten free, use Gluten Free Flour 
Once you gather your ingredients, grab a large bowl and mix the flour and salt together until it’s blended. Slowly stir in the water until mixture forms a paste. If you want colored paint, divide the mixture into bowls and add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl. Mix the food coloring until blended.
Now the fun begins! You can make the mixture thin enough to add to squirt bottles if you’d like and squirt it onto paper. Or you can shape the mixture by hand. Once you’ve gotten the dough created into the shape you like, let it dry into puffs.
Printable Recipe:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup water
- optional: food coloring in your choice of colors
- Mix all ingredients together. If you want colored puffy paint, divide the mixture into bowls. Stir in a few drops of food coloring into each bowl and mix until blended. Shape and let harden into puffs.
What’s your favorite kids’ boredom buster activity on those cold days when they have to stay inside?
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I’ve been buying puff paint for years, I wish I had known this a long time ago. I could have saved myself a lot of money.
This is so fun and creative. I wish I knew how to make this puffy paint as a kid I would of had a ball!
So fun my girls would love to do this!!!
This is so freaking cool! My little ones will get a kick out of it! I think this would be a great family project and everyone can get their favorite colors.
How cool! I had no idea you could make your own puffy paint. Love the colors you chose. I know some kids who would love this project. 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
I love love loved puffy paint everything when I was a kid. I always bought those bottles though. Time to relive my childhood and make my own.
My kids are going to LOVE this! Saturday is our “have fun” day and this is just to fun not to try!
That’s crazy! I had no clue it was so easy to make!
Opps. looks like another activity to do with the kids! im sure my hubby and kids will be having a great bonding with this! really cool and nce! i should try this out!
Those colors are gorgeous! I would love to attempt to make this!
All my siblings are coming over on the 20th and this seems like a great project to do with all the little ones. You make it seem so simple wish me luck.
How fun! This would be quite useless over the summer for a unique activity for my nieces!
Wow this is another cool idea for indoor activities. I’ll have to share this to my friends who are now parents. I guess this will be another bonding sessions with their kids.
This looks like an unique activity.
I will have to keep this in mind for my niece, as she loves creating.
I had NO IDEA you could do this!!! How awesome! I am saving this for sure to do with the kids!
This SO reminds me of my elem/middle school years. Now i can make it and let my kids enjoy what I did at their age
This is really neat! I think my niece and nephew with have a lot of fun with puffy paints.
How awesome is that, I love the combination of colors! My daughter would love this, she love trying anything arts and crafts.
My daughter and I love arts and crafts but I don’t think we’ve made anything like this before! it would be so nice to make it with her one afternoon after school! She’ll love it for sure!
I am not crafty and even I could make this! We actually needed a little once and I had to run to the store, wish I’d have known about this then.
Totally pinning this. My boys and I love sensory play and have never tried to make our own puffy paint before. This is such a great craft!
Oh this is great! You could use this in so many activities. I need to try this out!
Oh my….my girls would LOVE this. Definitely bookmarking so I can revisit later!
I remember puff paint! I will have to save this for when my nieces and nephews are over!!
I’m sharing this recipe with my son for my grand daughter! She will love making it and using it!
I love the colors, and I wish I was a child right now so I can make some puffy paint too. This would guarantee loads of fun!
This brings back a ton of awesome memories! I loved painting canvas sneakers with puffy paint as a kid, and now plan to explore that activity with my own children soon.
That is so fun! I wish I’d known about this when my daughters were young. It looks great!
Homemade puffy paint looks like loads of fun. I will have to try to make this!
This looks like such a fun idea. My kids would enjoy this.
My grandchildren are still a little young for this kind of activity but I will be sharing this with my cousin who has three little girls aged 8,6 and 4. They’ll love this!
This looks like a lot of fun. My daughter is past this age, but I’ll have to share it with my nephew and his girlfriend for their daughter 🙂
My little niece make puffy pain all the time. I never realized how fun and easy it it to make!
Making homemade puffy paint sounds like such a fun craft! I’ll have to try this out. I loved the colors you went with.
oh gosh, squirt bottles would be fun to play with this! Although, I will probably have to play outdoors because I wouldn’t want anything stained inside the house!
This looks fun! I am definitely going to do this with my son. We both love to paint a lot.
We do, too, and my kids are on vacation from school next week so this will keep them busy.
That looks like such a fun craft! My daughters would have loved this when they were younger. VERY cool.
Didn’t know you could make puff paints. Wasn’t sure what to do with them. Easy enough to make and use
I need to make some of your puffy paint whenever the grandkids come over and it’s raining or too cold to be outside. I love the vibrant colors and the ease in making this.
I need to make this for my boys! They love stuff like this and I love how easy it is to make 🙂