Time to get festive for the 4th with this super-fun, outdoor-messy craft! Get brave and give your kids water guns filled with watered-down paint and a target for them to create fireworks artwork! Take it from me—you’ll want to have more than one canvas ready for them to paint! Get the hose ready to spray the kids off after they’re done with this project!
Supplies:
- White canvas or large posterboard
- Little water guns
- Red, white and blue paint
- Three plastic bags (optional)
- Scissors (optional)
- Water
Directions:
1. Start by filling the water guns. You’ll need a solution of about ¾ paint to ¼ water or ½ paint to ½ water, depending on the look you are going for. You can eyeball this and just pour each color and water directly into a separate water gun.
2. If you want a bit less mess, put the paint and then the water into a plastic bag. Shake or mix the paint and water, cut a corner of the bag and pour into the water gun.
3. Outside, find a place to prop up your canvas.
4. Stand back and bravely hand your kids water guns filled with the paint and water mixture!
5. Watch them create fireworks on the canvas and then probably ask for another canvas to keep painting!
Tip 1: Warm outside temperatures will cause the paint and water mixture to dry quickly. You can continue to paint onto the dried canvas, but it will cause the colors to run.
Tip 2: The more water you use in your paint mixture, the more the colors will run. If you are after more of a firework look, use less water.
Janelle Cumro-Sultzer lives in Overland Park with her husband, two children and two dogs. Janelle is a former health care executive director and is a mediator in Kansas, helping families in conflict. Janelle loves to focus on learning through play and getting messy with crafts.