Squishy Art

My mom found a really cool pack of art project cards at Unique Thrift Store (one of my favorite places on the planet) and gave them to Max for Valentine's Day. We had to dig in right away and try some of them out, they all looked so fun! I'm sure I'll be posting results from many of these super simple home activities in the weeks to come, but our first attempt was called "Zipdraw", chosen because all of the supplies were on hand and it was completely mess-free!

I hole-punched the cards and put a ring through them... otherwise half would be missing by tomorrow!

The premise is this: squirt ketchup or mustard into a Ziploc bag, seal the bag shut and spread the "paint" smooth within the bag. Then you can draw on the bag with your fingers and create designs. It's like finger painting minus the cleanup. Admittedly, the fun was more in squishing the bags than in the actual designs... but there's nothing wrong with that!

After drawing and squishing for awhile, Max asked if we could mix the colors together. Why not? We scooped some mustard into the ketchup bag and vice-versa, and the kids had a fun time swirling the colors together until both bags contained varying shades of orange.

I would like to try this with paints next time; it would be a great hands-on way to introduce color mixing. "What happens when we smush red and blue together? Blue and yellow?" Oh the possibilities! And with cleanup taking less than thirty seconds, what's not to love about this activity?