3-Ingredient DIY Puffy Sidewalk Paint | Easy and Fun Summer Activity For Kids!
Make this fun and easy puffy sidewalk paint!
If your kids like to paint, they’ll love this DIY puffy sidewalk paint!
Try making this 3-ingredient puffy sidewalk paint as an easy DIY project! It’s a perfect activity to get the family outdoors and spend some time being creative with your little artists.
My kids loved to play with chalk when they were younger and this activity is a fun spin on that!
Painting with squirt bottles is FUN!
We used an easy-to-make mixture of water, flour, and shaving cream. The result was really nice and washable sidewalk paint that can be placed in squirt bottles to paint with, just like traditional puffy paint. I bought my bottles online, but you could check out a store like Dollar Tree for some cheaper options.
If you’d prefer, you can place paint in small bowls and use paintbrushes, or even a large muffin tin with different compartments would work nicely.
Hip tips for making this 3-ingredient DIY puffy sidewalk paint:
- While we didn’t have any issues with staining, the food coloring in the paint could potentially stain your sidewalk or driveway. To avoid this, try using soap coloring to tint your paint. It’s safe for skin, it rinses off hard surfaces with water, and it won’t stain your child’s clothing either!
- The squirt bottles really make sidewalk painting fun, but they’re not required! You could just cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and use it to “pipe” decorations onto your sidewalk like cake frosting.
- This puffy “chalk” paint works best when fresh, so try to prepare it at the last minute and don’t make more than you plan to use in a day. If you let it sit around for a day or two, it will develop an unpleasant smell. Gas will also build up inside the bottle, potentially causing the lid to pop off and create a mess!
DIY Puffy Sidewalk Paint
PrintSupplies Needed
- gallon freezer bags
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- food coloring (or soap coloring)
- 1/2 cup shaving cream
- plastic squirt bottles
Directions
1
Inside a gallon-sized freezer bag, mix flour and water together so there are no clumps.
2
Add 10 drops of food coloring and roughly 1/2 cup of shaving cream. Close the baggie and mix well using your hands on the outside of the bag.
3
Cut the end of the bag and pipe the mixture into the bottle. Don’t cut the end too large or it will be difficult to get it into the bottle.
4
Secure lid and squeeze onto the sidewalk to draw. Keep some toothpicks nearby in case the squirt bottles get plugged with a clump of flour. That happened to us, but it was easy to fix.
Hooray for fun DIY paint!
My daughter and my nieces really enjoyed this easy and inexpensive activity back when they were younger, so I’m thrilled to share this washable puffy “chalk” paint again for anyone who has kiddos at home looking for easy entertaining ideas. Now all you need is a nice day and this activity kept them busy painting for a long time!
Try these other fun summer activities for kids (many are FREE)!
This will be great for my grandkids! Thanks!
Oh fun! Yes, enjoy!
How long does the “puff” last on the sidewalk? My kids’ schools are having chalking the walks for teacher appreciation and I’d love for it to last all week!
Oh interesting. Ya I would say if you don’t spray it off it will last the week. That’s a neat idea.
What dose one batch make
One batch made about 1/2 a bottle of 4 colors. It was enough for 2 kids I would say. This would be easy to make a couple of batches.
Have you tried adding salt to the recipe? This may help with the gas build up and smell as that is likely being caused by the fermentation of the flour once it’s mixed with water. When you make homemade playdough you use a LOT of salt, which kills the natural yeasts in the flour and prevents the fermentation, letting the play dough last a long time. I’d be curious to know if this helps.
If I did this on sidewalk with a patio covering, would it stain the concrete? I’m just worried about the food coloring staining!
For a few days and then fades, or you can hose it off. That was our experience.
What I learned from this activity:
Just because it’s on Pinterest, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. What a mess on our driveway. It took more time scrubbing it off than it did painting it on. Though the color didn’t stain , the “paint” left a very definite shadow on the concrete. Hoping a power wash will remove it.
Admittedly, the kids, 2,4 and 7 had fun playing with the stuff for awhile.
So sorry it left a mess, Pat C. Super glad the kids still enjoyed it! Thanks for the update on how this idea worked out for you on your driveway. ❤️