Hello and welcome to summer vacation, kids! It’s such a free feeling to be out of school for a bit, huh? We’ve seen a lot of new faces in the shop lately–lots of young faces. :) We <3 it! We’ve also packed up a couple of really cute candy baskets for delivery–graduation, congratulations and ‘good job’ gifts seem to be big right now. (We even did one for a ten year old who had just earned his black belt in karate–pictured to the right. How fun is that!?) As long as you give us a call first thing in the morning–we can get one made, and sent out on the same day. (In other words–it’s okay if you forgot a present. We got ya covered. :) ) Anyway, today’s blog is the second in our summer time, candy craft series. (The first is here.) A recent trip to the zoo and the consequent purchase of a bag of cotton candy is the inspiration for today’s project. It was the toddler that convinced me to buy the cotton candy (it didn’t take that much prodding actually), so this project is aimed for that age–the toddlers. The original inspiration for this project was found here.

Here’s what you’ll need:

-Regular ‘ol, white shaving cream

-Glue

-Food Coloring

-Paper (We used a patterned piece for the ‘cone’ and a plain, white, piece to paint on.)

-Spoon (Or, just something to stir with.)

-Bowl

On your plain piece of paper, either draw, or glue your cone shape. (This could be done last, if you think your toddler might cover it all up with the puffy paint.) If you think it will help, you can also draw the shape of the cotton candy to give your toddler something to aim for while they’re painting.

The creation of the puffy paint was probably the most fun part about this project to my toddler. He loves mixing, and making a mess. Start by adding shaving cream to the bowl, and then add about the same amount of glue. (We didn’t quite add that much. We probably added a quarter of the amount of glue.) Mix it until it stiffens up a bit. Next, add a couple drops of food coloring. (A little bit goes a long way.) Mix until it’s evenly distributed. Then, your paint is ready. You can finger paint with it, use the spoon, or grab a paintbrush–whatever works best for you.

(Suggestion…you might want to have an extra piece of paper ready for when your little one is done with the cotton candy. I slipped the main project out, and a blank piece of paper in, and let him keep going. Otherwise, the cotton candy would have just been a big, blue, piece of paper.)

After your kids are done painting, if they used their hands, a trip to the sink (or hose) is a really important step to this project. It’s pretty much the most important step to this project, actually. The picture below is right after we finished–and, before it completely dried. As it dries, the flatter parts tend to flatten a bit more–but, the big parts remain.

Also…yes, this could also be an ice cream cone project. Our’s pretty much is–since, it looks like the cotton candy is melting. Either way–this is a fun one for a day when you’re looking for something a bit different to try with the kids.