I was trying to come up with a gift to give my husband for his very first Father’s  Day a few weeks ago.  The very first thing that popped in my head was a painting!!!! 

This was a fabulous idea…there was only one issue.  My child puts EVERYTHING in her mouth!  I wasn’t about to let her paint with store bought paints.  I remembered making pudding paint when I was little and how much fun it was, so I am going to share with you what we did.

Here are some things you will need

Box of Jello instant pudding-Vanilla works best because of the white color

Milk

Water

Bowls and mixing spoon

Canvas or paper

Clear Varnish to seal the painting

Paintbrushes (optional)

The first thing we need to do is make our yummy pudding.  Just mix it up using the directions on the box.  The pudding seamed a little thin to me, so I added 1/2 cup of water to thin it out a bit.  You can always eyeball it...who measures stuff anyway ;)

        MMMMM...Pudding!!!

Now we need to make some fun colors.  Take your pudding and put it in separate bowls.  I used 4 bowls to make red, blue, green, and yellow paint.  you can do whatever you want.  Stir in some food coloring to the pudding until you get the color you like.  Remember, a little bit goes a long way!

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Here comes the fun, but messy part!  Take your kids outside, or just stick them in the tub for an easy clean up!  Set the canvas or paper on the ground or table next to the pudding paint and let them go to town!  You can give them paintbrushes or just let them finger paint to create their own little masterpieces. When they are all done, just leave the paintings outside to dry.  Ours was completely dry in about 10 minutes, but it was 100 degrees outside that day!

Hey this is yummy!

Woohoo!!!  Painting is fun!!

Now that your little one is covered in all of that wonderful pudding paint, they are going to need a good scrubbing.  Go ahead and put your messy baby in the bathtub...but wait!!!!  They look cute to clean up just yet.  Go grab your camera and snap some totally fabulous artistic photos!  

SOOOO stinkin cute!!!

OK, now that you have an awesome picture, go ahead and give that messy little guy or girl a bath :)

Now that our paintings are all dry, we need to seal them.  This will protect them from fading, bugs, or pudding going sour.  I  know some of you were thinking this wouldn't work because of the milk going bad.  Don't worry, just make sure you put a nice, thick coat of varnish on the painting.  Leave it outside to dry some more.

Here is the finished product!

I added her foot and hand print as her "signature".

I decided to have the picture of Madison covered in paint printed and framed for her Daddy.  I think it looks fantastic with the paintings.  What do you think?

All ready to give to her Daddy for Father's Day.

Pudding paint is as simple as that.  Go make some now!  Have some outdoor fun, and get some great photos while your at it!

Happy Crafting!!!