Puff Paint Holiday Mugs
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You can finish this painting pretty quickly. The actual painting can be completed in one 30-minute class.
However, you need time for the puff paint to dry before you can embellish or paint it. Plan for about 48 hours.
- White Canvas
- Acrylic paints
- Paintbrushes
- DIY puff paint ingredients (shaving cream, white glue, gel food coloring)
- Mixing tray
- Water container
- Optional: glitter, stickers for decoration
A Fun and Festive Art Project for K-5th Graders
Perfect to brighten your winter days, this project combines creativity with simple learning elements.
What You’ll Make:
Turn a plain canvas into a delightful winter mug. With acrylic paints and DIY puff paint, your young artists create a 3D effect. Gift-worthy art for the win!
Create the Art
Consider offering your student the choice between a Santa or Snowman mug.
Our video lesson shows a Snowman Mug, but you can also choose a Santa Mug.
Kids get to choose the facial expressions of their subject.
Consider Adding Details Before the Puff Paint
If your kids have enough hand-control, paint everything but the puff paint first. Simply outline where the puff paint will go and leave that area without embellishment.
Without hand control, the puff paint might end up covering the face details of younger students, which bums out some of the kiddos.
Puff Paint
Mix and apply your DIY puff paint for a snowy texture.
EASY DIY PUFF PAINT
Simply mix equal parts of white school glue and shaving cream. It’s important that you use shaving cream, not shaving gel. We use about 1/2 cup of each.
White puff-paint is all you need for Santa. But you can choose to blend in colors as well.
We found that blending in some gel food coloring works best.
Dry and Admire
Ensure you let the puff paint dry for at least 48 hours.
Ask your kids if there was a physical or chemical change.
The answer:
When you mix glue with shaving cream to make puff paint, it’s like mixing together playdough and slime.
The glue is like the slime because it’s sticky, and the shaving cream is like playdough because it’s fluffy.
When you mix them, you get something new that is both sticky and fluffy, like sticky playdough!
But even though it’s mixed, the glue is still glue, and the shaving cream is still shaving cream.
They just look different when they are together. It’s like when you mix red and yellow playdough to make orange playdough. The red and yellow are still there, but now they look orange.
This is called a physical change, where things mix together but don’t turn into something completely different.
Take the learning further by creating a different puff paint and comparing the way the ingredients react.
Use:
- 2 Tablespoons self-rising flour
- 2 Tablespoons salt
- Acrylic paint
Compare various aspects like touch and feel. If you add vinegar or lemon juice to the leftover paints, ask the kid’s to form a hypothesis on what will happen.
Thank You for Creating With US
These Snowman or Santa Mug Paintings can be proud gifts for family and friends, or sweet winter art to hang in your home for the season.
Take a look at the other lessons in the Winter Unit and get excited for your next project.
Continue With the Other Winter Art Projects
Clay Penguins
Snowy Winter Cabin
