This activity is an adaptation of our previous mess-free fingerpainting activity. This time we used hair gel and food coloring, in part because I need to buy more paint, and in part because the translucence looks cool and allows you to do goofy stuff like this:
Johnny did eventually figure out how to open the previous bags, so I sealed the bags shut with hot glue. It worked really well, apart from the one time I touched (and immediately melted) the actual bag with the tip of the glue gun.
I was going to do a cool color-mixing activity by putting different colors of food coloring in the bags and letting the kids gradually swirl them together, but both kids insisted that they only wanted green food coloring. Maybe next time…
Find more unstructured art activities at Tired, Need Sleep!
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
is there any substitute for “hair gel” ?
You can use anything – hair gel, conditioner, paint… Shampoo also works, although sometimes it starts to suds up.
I have a 2 year old granddaughter who I keep once a week. I love this ideas. I’m looking for craft ideas to do with her. Thanks for the great idea. Going to get hair gel now.
I’m so glad you like this idea! I hope your granddaughter enjoys it as much as my kids do!
I think this such a cool thing to do with kids. I went out and bought green and pink hair gel and my two grand daughters and I are going to try this out this afternoon!
Fantastic!!! I hope you have fun with it!
When my kids were younger, I let them finger paint in the bathtub. It was one of my rare strokes of Mom genius!
.-= Terri´s last blog ..WINNERS! =-.
This does look like a lot of fun! I like the idea of using translucent gel instead of paint, and the idea of mixing colors this way. Looks very cool!
.-= Nicole´s last blog ..The Art Box – June 21, 2010 =-.
what fun!
This looks so fun!
.-= Elisa | blissfulE´s last blog ..clapping and giggling =-.
I love the last picture – it looks like both kids had fun with it.
.-= Natalie´s last blog ..Week in Review – June 18, 2010 =-.
Hmmmm…….. how long before my kids figure that one out…….
.-= Ticia´s last blog ..Preschool Corner: how are we doing? =-.
that looks like fun! again!
.-= Keeling´s last blog ..Jackisms =-.
How funny–we JUST did this with hair conditioner a few days ago! I have a blog post drafted for it :). Great minds think alike!
.-= Jaimie´s last blog ..The Trolley Garden: Our New Natural Playscape =-.
@Jaimie – great idea to use hair conditioner!
You had me at “No Mess.” :) Looks like a lot of fun!
.-= Adriana´s last blog ..Vacation! =-.