# Puffy Paint Earth
> Mix equal parts white glue and shaving cream, tint it blue and green with gel food color, and paint a puffy, textured Earth on a paper plate. Once dry, the plates make simple Earth Day wall art.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/earth-day-art-with-puffy-paint-earth/
- Ages: 3–7 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 20 min, activity 20 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 3 kids
- Skills: art, sensory-exploration, fine-motor, geography, earth-science
- Cautions: food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- Shaving cream (foam)
- White glue
- Gel food color (blue and green)
- 1 piece White paper plates
- 2 piece Paint brushes
- 1 sheet Printed world map circle template (optional)
- 2 piece Small bowls (household)
- 1 piece Scissors (optional) (household)

## Safety
- The puffy paint is NOT taste-safe: shaving cream and white glue should not be eaten. Supervise younger children closely so they don't mouth paint or fingers.
- Keep shaving cream away from eyes. Wash hands after painting, especially if kids paint with their fingers.
- Gel food color can stain hands, clothes and surfaces. Cover the table and use smocks.
- Adult handles the scissors when cutting out the map template for young children.

## Before you start
- Optional: print a world map template, cut it into a circle and place it inside each white paper plate.

## Steps
1. Put the cut-out world map in the middle of a white paper plate, or skip the map and use the plain plate.
2. Mix equal parts white glue and shaving cream in a bowl to make puffy paint.
3. Split the puffy paint into two bowls. Tint one blue and one green with gel food color.
4. Paint the water on your Earth with the blue puffy paint.
5. Paint the land with the green puffy paint.
6. Use your fingers if you like. It's all about exploration!
7. Let the paper plate Earths dry for a while until the paint puffs up.
8. Hang the dry Earths on the wall as Earth Day art.
9. Optional: after about 3 days, gently peel the map off the plate for a textured Earth.

## Tips
- The map template is really not necessary, but my daughter wanted the map inside, so we gave that a go.
- Use gel food color to get nice bright colors.
- Some kids would want to use their fingers to create their Earth Day art, and that's ok.
- Older kids will enjoy talking about the landmass and the water bodies on the planet. Questions may come up about why they use green for the land instead of brown.
- I just love the peaks and the textures this simple puffy paint recipe produces.
- Left for about 3 days, the puffy paint goes flat and eventually dries. Our kids could remove the map they painted over because the glue didn't hold it well. Peeling it off gently left a beautiful Earth with lots of texture.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2015)

*Simple Earth Day Craft and art for younger kids with a quick puffy paint recipe.*

Talking about our planet has become quite easy with the 6 year old since they cover quite a few aspects of it at school. Like many Kindergarteners she has a good grasp of the Solar System and the our planet's position there. However understanding the environmental conservation aspect of the planet is still a work in progress. While we still talk about the importance of [saving our trees,](https://www.funlittles.com/earth-day-crafts-trees/) recycling, reusing and generally cleaning up our space we have a long way to go. Today's Earth Day Craft and art uses simple materials

- **[Shaving Cream](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FNVINA/?tag=blmemo-20)**
- **[AmeriColor Food Color](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029YDR82/?tag=blmemo-20)**
- **[White Glue](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q3KHCM/?tag=blmemo-20)**
- **[Paper Plates](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053KORAQ/?tag=blmemo-20)**
- **[Art and Craft Brush Set](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001M04T0E/?tag=blmemo-20)**

Use a white paper plate and cut out a world map template. The template is really not necessary but my daughter wanted the map inside. So we gave that a go.  For the simple puffy paint we used equal parts white glue and shaving cream { Our [1 minute puffy paint recipe](https://www.funlittles.com/puffy-paint/) post has tons of details about it}  We used our favorite gel food color {linked above} to get nice bright colors.  If working with younger kids on this Earth Day Craft you could also make green as opposed to just giving them green puffy paint.  Older kids will enjoy talking about the landmass and the water bodies on the planet. Simple questions may arise as to why they are using green for the land instead of brown.  Some kids would want to use their fingers to create their Earth Day art and that's ok. It is all about exploration!  I just love the peaks and the textures this simple puffy paint recipe produces.  Let the paper plate Earths dry for a while. Once dry you will see the nice and puffed up paint up close. They make beautiful wall art if you want to display them.



If you leave your shaving cream for about 3 days, the puffy paint will go flat and it will eventually dry. However the kids did a cool thing - they were able to remove the map we had painted over since the glue apparently did not do a good job. Once you gently remove the map off the paper plate you will get a beautiful Earth art with lots of texture.





Thanks for reading