How to Make Puffy Paint

Let’s learn how to make puffy paint! Making your own puffy paint is easy and fun. Kids of all ages will love this art project!

You’re going to see exactly how to make puffy paint in just a few simple steps.

Let’s get started!

Ingredients for DIY Puffy Paint

You need three simple ingredients:

Every time we make puffy paint, I use this amazing Tray from my friend Laura from Inspire My Play

Click HERE to purchase her tray and check out her store for other sensory items.

Other supplies you’ll need

How to Make Puffy Paint Video

Check out the video below to see exactly how we make puffy paint. But, also see the written directions below for more clarification.

Directions on how to make puffy paint

Here are the easy steps!

Step 1: In a bowl, mix equal parts foam shaving cream and glue together.

It has to be foam shaving cream, the one brand that I listed in the ingredients section is the type we use, and it works great!

I typically never measure it out; I just eyeball it, but I would say around 1.5 cups of shaving cream to 1 cup of glue for each color.

Use a spoon to mix the glue and shaving cream together until you get the consistency that you like.

TIP: I do tend to add just a bit more shaving cream because I like how it dries a little more puffy at the end.

Step 2: Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl! This step is optional; in some cases, you’ll just keep it white, but a lot of times, you’ll want to add some color in.

Use a spoon to mix around the food coloring.

Those are all the directions on how to make puffy paint! You are ready to start crafting.

Crafting with Puffy Paint

I shared earlier in the article that you need cardstock paper to do puffy paint crafts. Cardstock paper is thicker, and it can hold the weight of the paint better than construction/printer paper.

Draw the shapes that you want to create with the puffy paint using a pencil on cardstock paper.

Then, the kids will use a spoon to scoop out the paint, or they can use a paintbrush.

I find it easier to use a spoon to scoop and a paintbrush to spread the paint around the image.

How long does puffy paint take to dry?

It takes about 3-4 hours for puffy paint to start drying. It’s fun for the kids to check out the difference in their paintings every hour.

It will have a 3D effect to it, but once it is dry, it does flatten out a bit.

When you feel the paint, tell the kids not to press down hard with their fingers. It will ruin the artwork. They can lightly pat the paintings with their fingers to see how it feels!

The texture is spongy! Every time we do a puffy paint activity, my kids LOVE the sensory aspect of it.

Crafting Ideas

Learning how to make puffy paint will give you so many arts and crafts ideas!

As I said before, it’s one of my favorites, so we normally do them for each holiday.

This snowman craft was fun because we added in some buttons, glitter, and paper accessories.

One of the things that I love most about puffy paint is that you can place craft items on the paint, and they will dry!

Some items that will stick on puffy paint are

Just place these items on top of the paint once you are done painting, and they will stick right on! How cool is that!

Other Puffy Paint Crafts

Check out some other awesome crafts below that you can make!

#1: Puffy Paint Heart Cards

Making puffy paint cards is fun! These Valentine’s Day cards are perfect to give to a family member, friend, or teacher.

This is one of the easiest puffy paint crafts! Draw some hearts on cardstock paper, then fill in the hearts with the paint.

We added glitter to the hearts once we were done painting. I love the heart that has mixed colors too!

#2: Halloween Crafts

Honestly, out of all the holidays, Halloween is my favorite to create puffy paint crafts for.

There are so many fun options of things to make. For this craft, we made candy corn, a witch’s hat, and Frankenstein.

We added googly eyes, cardstock paper, and glitter as the extras for these crafts.

For all the details of this craft, head to my Halloween crafts article.

#3: Christmas Crafts

Use puffy paint to create Santa, a candy cane, or ornaments. All of these are so fun to try out for Christmas.

We even used broken pieces of candy canes!

Draw your shapes on cardstock paper, and fill in the puffy paint where you want.

We used paper to make the Santa, glitter to decorate the ornament, and candy cane pieces for the candy cane!

Find all the details in my Christmas crafts article.

#4: St. Patrick’s Day Crafts

How adorable are these St. Patrikc’s Day-themed puffy paint crafts? I don’t know which one I like the most.

We made a leprechaun, rainbow, and shamrock!

It’s fun making the colors of the rainbow. The kids will love exploring all the different colors, the texture, and how it feels when it is dry.

Check out all the details of this craft in my St. Patricks’s Day crafts article below.

#5: Easter Crafts

For Easter, you can make a sheep, bunny, or chick! We have also made Easter eggs, which are so much fun because you can make so many different designs.

There are so many fun additions that we added to these crafts. We used cardstock paper for the sheep, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes for the bunny and chick.

All the details for these crafts are below in my Easter crafts article.

#6: Ocean Crafts

Got one more idea for you! These fun ocean crafts are perfect for making in the summer or if you are doing an ocean-themed learning unit at school.

I love how colorful these crafts are!

We added some sequins, googly eyes, and craft poms to these crafts. The kids had a blast creating these ocean crafts!

Check out all my other ocean animal crafts!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long does it take to dry?

Answer: It takes about 3-4 hours to dry. We typically leave it overnight in a safe spot where we know nothing will ruin it!

2. Can you prepare the puffy paint before crafting?

Answer: No, you can’t prepare the paint beforehand because it will begin to dry out. You have to create the paint before you intend to use it for the best results!

3. How does it look when it is dry?

Answer: It will have a 3D effect! It does flatten out a little bit as each day goes on.

4. What ingredients do you need to make puffy paint?

Answer: We like to use Elmer’s white school glue, Barbasol foam shaving cream, and food coloring! Everything is linked above.

5. What type of paper should we use when using puffy paint?

Answer: For best results, use cardstock paper. It’s thicker and will hold the puffy paint better than construction or printer paper.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Once you know how to make puffy paint, there are so many fun crafts that you can create.

Kids of all ages will love learning how to make puffy paint. They will love helping with the process.

I’d love to know if you make any puffy paint crafts using the recipe above! Let me know in the comments how it went.

Happy Crafting!

Deena

How to Make Puffy Paint