I am so excited to share this activity with you because it is fun, magical, scientific, and not very messy (I let my kids paint while wearing white…”gasp”). The magic paint is taste-safe so this activity was prefect for Mr. Tickles (age 1.5) to join in. We are HUGE Disney Frozen fans and whenever my son hears the opening credits to any movie he starts singing, “Let it go,” and dancing around excitedly. I thought it would be fun to play with the idea that Olaf likes warm hugs even though he is a snowman. He made snow cool for summer activities. So let’s start the magic…
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Update: Although we did this activity in the summer, it is perfect for the winter too…you know, when snowmen are standing around 🙂 We recently had a Frozen birthday party. Catch the excitement and a copy of our
Frozen cake and cupcake toppers here.
Supplies:
Water
Sea Salt or Epsom Salt
Paper (black paper works best)
Olaf coloring page (optional) I found ours online
You can play into the magic of this activity as much as you would like. I suggest making your Olaf magic paint ahead of time so the kids don’t know the salt is in it. Set your kiddos painting out in the sun to get warm and they will be amazed when the magic happens when the paint dries . The salt crystals glitter in the sun and seem to appear from nothing but water and the magic of Olaf.
How the Magic Works:
Salt is an ionic compound and dissolves in water when the sodium and chloride atoms pull apart from each other. When the water is removed the elements rejoin reforming salt crystals. Perfect for our Olaf Magic Paint.
Directions:
1. Fill a cup with 1-2 cups water depending on how many kiddos are participating. We used about 1 cup and we had plenty of magic paint left over. Add salt and stir to dissolve the salt. Keep adding salt and stirring until it stops dissolving (the mixture has become saturated)-now your paint is ready.
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| We made our magic paint by adding 1/4 cup of salt to 1 cup water (instead of adding a little at a time). Apparently it was way too much salt because it didn’t all dissolve. We used the paint without the salt granules. |
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| Olaf Magic Paint all ready to go. |
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| The kiddos used crayons to color on their paper for added decorations. I was thinking that the crayon would resist the magic paint, but when the paint is super thick the crayon didn’t matter except for adding more artistic flare to the painting. |
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| The kiddos used Q-tips as paint brushes. Mr. Tickles ended up dumping his paint on his paper and it turned out the best. |
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| We found that when the magic paint is applied thickly it works the best. |
2. Set the painting in the sun to dry and wait for the magic to happen. The paper will get warm, the water will evaporate, and the salt in the magic paint will remain. The time it takes depends on how warm it is outside and how wet the paper is. I think we waited 30 minutes on a very hot day.
Update: of just place the paintings where they can dry inside.
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| The paint looks like water, then looks like “snow” when dry. |
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| I printed some Olaf coloring pages I found online and we colored them with crayon then painted them with our magic paint. Once the paint was dry,Olaf sparkled in the sun. |
More Frozen Activities:
Even More Frozen Ideas:
I hope your kids enjoy the magic as much as my kiddos did. Did I mention we are HUGE Frozen fans!?! This is probably not the last Frozen themed activities we will come up with 🙂 If you enjoyed this post I would love it if you shared it so others can enjoy this activity too :).
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The effect must really seem like magic for kids. What a great painting project! Thanks for sharing at the After School Linky Party.
Thanks so much for stopping by and for the lovely comment. Have a fun day!
So clever! Pinned it and your crayon art 🙂
Hi Amanda, thanks so much! I love your Pinterest boards so it's fun to be included on them 🙂
What a wonderful and creative activity! My girls love Frozen… I will have to give this a whirl.
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Hi Jennifer, thanks for visiting from the #SHINEbloghop! I hope you and your girls have fun painting! 🙂
The Olaf paint idea looks like so much fun! I can't wait to set this up for my daughter. I've pinned it to my Disney FROZEN board, too.
Thank you for sharing at the #SHINEBlogHop, Katie! I'm your newest follower!
Hi Sarah thank you so much for visiting, following, pinning, and for the fun blog hop (wow, that was a lot )!!! I hope you and your daughter enjoy our activity!
Great idea – The Fairy loves Frozen. Thank you for joining in the #ParentingPinItParty.
Thanks for visiting, we love Frozen too 🙂
Hi Heather, I am so excited you and your kiddos are going to try this out!!!
Love this magic craft! Great tips! Thank you for sharing it with us! #Pintorials
Hi Eileen, thanks so much! 🙂