How to Make Homemade Sidewalk Paint for Kids (Super Simple Recipe)

An easy recipe for homemade sidewalk paint so your kids can paint all day outside.

Homemade Sidewalk Paint

If you hate the mess of painting, but want to do a painting activity with your kids, this craft is perfect for you. It’s super easy, and kids love it. It requires like 2 minutes of prep work and it’s an easy clean up. So, why not?

My kids often beg me to paint, and sometimes I’m just not in the mood. I know, we’ve all been there. I’ve been wanting to do some outside crafts since the weather has been so nice in the mornings, and my kids love to be outside. They also love to make messes, so this activity is perfect.

I put my kids in some play clothes and let them go to town. The great thing about painting outside is you don’t have to worry about getting paint everywhere. Also, this paint is clothes friendly, so you don’t have to worry about staining clothes either. I did require them to stay on the sidewalk or the road, but other than that, they painted like crazy.

This is also a fun paint to splash and splatter. That might be too much for you, which is okay, it works great just as a paint too. But if you want to make mini Pollock’s, then here’s your chance.

Here’s how we did it.

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How to Make Homemade Sidewalk Paint

Supplies:

Cornstarch
Water
Food Coloring
Bowls
Spoons
Paint Brushes– These are the paint brushes I bought, I liked that they were big, cheap, and good for the outdoors.
A sidewalk or street

Instructions:

To prepare your paint, mix your cornstarch and water together in a bowl. You can do any amount you’d like as long as it’s a 1:1 ratio. I did 1/2 cup of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water. (These don’t have to be perfect).

Mix until the cornstarch is fully combined with the water. It kinda dissolves in the water, BUT it will get hard again if it sits for too long. That’s okay, just mix it again and it’ll work just fine.

Add in some food coloring of your choice and mix until combined. OR do several different bowls with all different colors. I did 4 colors.

Take your bowls outside and then let the kids dip their paint brushes in the paint and go to town on the sidewalk or road.

Side note: This does not stain clothes, so you don’t have to worry too much about them getting it on them.

Sidewalk Paint Clean Up

One of the questions on your mind might be…does it clean up easily? (That was my first question) The answer is yes. I just threw a bowl of water on some of it, and it came right off. You can either spray it down with a hose, or bowl of water, or wait for it to rain. It also seems to be coming up a little bit with just going over it with our cars and such.

Alternative Activities with Sidewalk Paint

This is a great activity to do if you are teaching your little ones preschool. You could have them paint letters or numbers on the road with prompts from you. I am teaching my three year old preschool this year and I think I will do this one of the weeks for one of our letter crafts.