Wonka Paints

You know that scene in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when the kids are licking the fruit pictures on the wallpaper? That is kind of what this project reminded me of. I read somewhere that it could be done, and I decided we'd try it. Here are the directions:

Step 1: Find several different colors of unsweetened KoolAid. They come in envelopes around 10-cents a pack. I used cherry, orange, lemonade, lemon-lime, berry blue, and grape.

Step 2: Sprinkle a little of each color in separate containers. I love ice-cube trays because there are many small compartments, and paintbrushes fit in the grooves.

Step 3: Add a little water to each of the powders. I mixed enough in that the paint was about the consistency of fingerpaint.

Step 4: On a protected surface, let your little one paint to his heart's content. This stuff is the same thing high school kids use to dye their hair dramatic colors, so protect what needs to be protected. I gave him a cup of water to rinse the brush between colors, but he had a lot of fun creating new colors, too.

Don't get discouraged if the colors don't paint well, they will change as they dry. The grape was black until it dried to a pretty violet. On construction paper, the yellow didn't have any color, it just looked like wet paper. When it dried it was yellow. Will wanted to make a handprint, and I told him he could. When we washed his hands, the color didn't all come off. After a bath with plenty of playtime, most of it was off, but they were still funny colors. Yes, he tasted it. It was pretty nasty since there is no sweetener, so he only tasted two colors then decided he didn't want it anymore. The colors were much more vivid than I thought they'd be. The fun part is the pictures smelled really fruity. The lemon smelled like a lemon, the cherries smelled like cherries, and the schnozberries. . .