Puffy Paint

When you finish making shaving cream prints (see July 20th) you end up with a lot of shaving cream mixed with paint.  It's easy enough to rinse down the sink but it's also easy to turn this mixture into Puff the Magic Paint.

The recipe for Puffy Paint is:
1/2cup of shaving cream
2 T of white glue
2 T of acrylic paint

Note that these measurements are approximations.  More shaving cream will give you a foamy texture when it dries, and more glue will give it a smoother texture.  Extra paint creates deeper colors.

We had the residents mix the colors with forks on small paper plates and then apply the paints to pieces of cardboard that had circles drawn on them.  Circles were drawn using jar lids of various sizes, overlapping some of the circles to make a more interesting design.

True confession - Week one we mixed up the puffy paint and had the residents apply it to simple drawings of flowers or butterflies using cotton swabs.  This did not work.  The impulse was to try to paint with the cotton swabs and the paint needs to be piled onto the picture.

Week two we gave out the circle designs, hid the cotton swabs, and passed out plastic spoons for the residents to use.  Every resident who participated (9 of them) was adept at getting paint to paper, thick enough, and with some semblance of order.  We do not advocate staying inside the lines, but their proficiency was outstanding.

Week three, which has not happened, will be a new piece of cardboard cut to fit inside a picture frame so they can create something suitable for framing, frame it, and have an original art piece to give as a gift or for their room.  It's a great way to use up all the picture frames from storage.  There were excited conversations about ideas for their final pieces.  Practice pieces are a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  Everyone is looking forward to next week's gathering.

Above is Lillian with her practice piece and activity staff person, Delores.