My husband never ceases to amaze me. Just when I think I’ve got him down, he busts out some spontaneous idea that makes me fall in love with him all over again. This time, we were all sitting on the couch relaxing, planning out the day, when Ev says “I’m going to do an art project with the girls.” Next thing I know he’s set up an entire art station for marble milk printing. I mean, is this guy for real? How did this even happen? Apparently he watched some show that did a little milk printing tutorial and he was inspired. I’ve done this a few times with my kindergarten class years ago, but if you want to read an amazing tutorial on how to make marble milk paper go see my friend Ana, over at Babble Dabble Do. She’s amazing. Anyway, we did a basic version with materials we had around the house and it was a HUGE hit with the girls.
First Ev set up some shallow white trays and helped Gigi pour in some milk. Then she squirted some drops of food coloring in the trays. Kids freaking LOVE food coloring. At least mine do. They just want to squeeze all those little bottles all day long. We’ve gone through about a million. And whoever says food coloring does not come off is wrong. If this was true my entire family would have permanently green hands. Anyway, then comes the super super fun part. Ev gave the girls liquid soap in a pump and helped them pump it onto the food coloring drops. That’s when the coolest chemical reaction ever happens. Moving rainbow magic! Seriously, I never get tired of watching the reaction. You have to try it to see for yourself but take a look below to get the idea.
After the girls had a few tries with the soap we placed some white card stock in the tray to absorb the color. The food coloring left a beautiful color rainbow on each piece of paper, which we decided to turn into a Valentine’s Day book. After the paper dries, fold it in half, gather up some pieces and tie a piece of string or ribbon around the paper to make a book. I cut out some hearts from tissue paper and let Gigi glue them onto each page. I love extending art projects over a few days. I think it’s a great lesson for kids to see that important work takes time and art is special and takes effort, sometimes a lot of effort. Besides, Gigi loves anything involving glue.
Ev totally earned his crafting stripes with this one. D’s not in the pics, but she was there the whole time trying to keep up with her sister. Ev was doing his best to move from G to D, trying to help them while preventing everything from spilling all over the place. After he finished, he turned to me and said “I don’t know how you do this. It’s nearly impossible.” I’m pretty sure he was sweating while he said it too, which made a crafting mama secretly smile ; )
Woot! These turned out so beautiful! LOVE how you turned them into a book. I can’t wait for the day my hubby says he wants to do an art project with the kids…..
Thanks Ana!! I know, Ev never ceases to amaze me. It’s pretty great.
Reblogged this on Creation Village and commented:
We love it! We added extra pages to keep drawings and write notes in ours 🙂 -Marker and Crayon
So great! Thanks for reposting. Would love to see it when you’re done.
Just wondering what kind of liquid hand soap you used. Does it matter?
Thanks for stopping by! I’m pretty sure we used method brand but I really don’t think it matters. Have fun and let me know!
what a super cute idea!
Thanks Erika. My girls really enjoyed it. Hope you give it a try!
love the colors you achieve with this technique! It’s a winner for all ages! Perfect for the maker and the receiver!
I linked to these in my post today! They’re so cute and I love that they also include Ana!
Thanks Gina! You’re the best!
So pretty! I was just wondering if the milk begins to spoil/smell on the pages over a few days?
Thanks!
I didn’t notice any stink : )
What a lovely project! I want to try it with my little granddaughter. I’m always looking what I already can make with her – and she loves creating with me.
Thanks for sharing this idea and the great tutorial.
Happy Easter!
elenor