Craft: Paint That Puffs Up In The Microwave!

Posted on by epicava

You usually use your microwave to heat up leftovers (or, make one of our many microwave dessert recipes 😂) But you can also use your microwave to create beautiful art!

This is a fun craft for all ages and is very easy and simple to make!

Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.09.58 PM.png

To start creating your masterpiece, gather all of these items:

  1. Parchment paper
  2. Salt
  3. Baking powder
  4. White flour
  5. Four colours of food colouring
  6. Water
  7. A mixing bowl
  8. A spoon
  9. Four small ziplock bags
  10. Four rubber bands

Great! Now follow the steps below to create a beautiful 3D painting!

  1. Put two cups of flour into a bowl.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.16.35 PM.png2. Add two teaspoons of salt to the flour.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.42.10 PM.png

    3. For your final dry ingredient, put in six teaspoons of baking powder. This is the ingredient that makes the paint “puff up”.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.44.54 PM.png

    4. Finally, add 1 1/2 cups of water.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.44.15 PM.png

    5. Mix well.
    Awesome! The mixture that you have just created should look something like this:
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.48.58 PM.png

    6. Transfer this “batter” into four separate ziplock bags.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.50.39 PM.png

    7. Put a few drops of food dye into each bag. Make sure that they are all different colours!
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.51.41 PM.png

    8. Close the bag. Tightly. Then, shake the bag around so that the food dye is mixed into the mixture, and so that it is one solid colour.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.54.10 PM.png

    9. When you are done, twist the top of the bag, so that it is in the shape of a piping bag, like you would use if you were icing a cake.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.57.15 PM.png

    10. When you are done, seal the twist with a rubber band.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 7.58.13 PM.png
    When you are done that, your bag should look something like the bags below:
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.02.13 PM.png

    11. Trim a bit of the corner off. Repeat this step and the last three for all of the other bags.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.02.49 PM.png

    12. Cut off a piece of parchment paper. Make sure that it is not too big to fit in your microwave!
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.04.01 PM.png

    13. You can begin painting on the parchment paper with the bags of paint that you created! This can get a little messy, so make sure to clean it up after.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.04.56 PM.png

    14. Put your creation in the microwave for 30-50 seconds. Remember that they can burn if you leave them in for too long.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.06.30 PM.png

    15. Remove your art from the microwave. The paint should be puffy and 3D when you take it out!
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.13.12 PM.png

    Bonus step: If you would like to, you can actually peel your art off of the parchment paper. Let it cool for a while, and then simply peel the paint off with your fingers! Remember to be gentle.
    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.17.49 PM.png

    Here are a few cool examples!

    Screen Shot 2019-05-20 at 8.16.39 PM.png
    You can actually put a light colour of paint on top of a darker colour!

    IMG_9660.jpeg
    The one above is created by a younger kid!

    Did you enjoy this craft? Let us know using our contact page!

Published by epicava

KidMag content creator who's passionate about art and baking!