My plan
Fun Littles

Fun and easy kids activities

Puffy Paint Earth

Mar 22, 201526,265 views
Crafts
Earth Day Art with puffy paint Earth Save
earth day puffy paint Save
earth day art with puffy paint Save
wall art for earth day Save
earth day art craft for kids Save
art for kids for earth day Save

by TurkeyMom in Crafts

Ages3–7 yrs
Prep20 min
Activity20 min
Leveleasy
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

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.

⚠️ Safety first

  • 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 the kids arrive

  • 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.from the author
  • Use gel food color to get nice bright colors.from the author
  • Some kids would want to use their fingers to create their Earth Day art, and that's ok.from the author
  • 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.from the author
  • I just love the peaks and the textures this simple puffy paint recipe produces.from the author
  • 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.from the author

Make it your own

  • With younger kids, let them make the green themselves instead of handing them ready-made green puffy paint.
  • Peel the painted map off the plate after the paint dries to get a free-standing textured Earth.
  • A reader pairs Earth Day crafts with blue and green slime, or DIY terrarium necklaces to learn about the water cycle.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · March 2015
earth day craft with shave cream
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.
1 / 10

Puffy Paint Earth: the original post

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, 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

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. earth day craft with shave cream For the simple puffy paint we used equal parts white glue and shaving cream { Our 1 minute puffy paint recipe post has tons of details about it} creating earth with shaving cream We used our favorite gel food color {linked above} to get nice bright colors. painting with shaving cream puffy paint If working with younger kids on this Earth Day Craft you could also make green as opposed to just giving them green puffy paint. earth day 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. earth Some kids would want to use their fingers to create their Earth Day art and that’s ok. It is all about exploration! earth day craft for kids with colored shaving cream I just love the peaks and the textures this simple puffy paint recipe produces. earth day art with puffy paint 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.

wall art for earth day

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.

earth day art craft for kids

art for kids for earth day

Thanks for reading

What readers say

💬 1 comments

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Read all 1 comments

  1. Me Con · Apr 2021

    Love these earth day crafts! We’ll be making some blue & green slime for earth day too! We just did DIY terrarium necklaces to learn about the water cycle and have a fun spring craft that I think would be fun for Earth Day too!

Similar activities

25 Butterfly Crafts and Art Activities

25 ideas2–8 yrs

Easy Toddler Christmas Wreath

35 min2–5 yrs

Jack-O-Lantern Silhouette Sun Catchers

35 min2–7 yrs

Simple Hanging Ghost Craft

20 min3–6 yrs
🛒 Materials