For children's creativity today, a variety of materials and techniques are offered. Such an unusual kind of needlework as colored sand painting is gaining great popularity. Already on sale you can find kits for creating crafts in this technique at home. The problem is that such kits, consisting of sand and pictures for coloring, are often unreasonably expensive. If you wish, you can do such needlework at home using colored cereals. How to paint semolina for children's creativity, using improvised tools and materials?
Cooking dye at home
One of the options for coloring cereals - using paint and alcohol. Take a small bowl or jar. Mix gouache of the chosen color (1 tsp), vodka (2 tsp) and water (2 tsp) in it. Pour semolina into the thoroughly mixed coloring liquid. The cereal should be mixed well and grind so that it dyes evenly. How to paint semolina without lumps? Everything is very simple - carefully knead it with your hands. Once you are sure that the cereal is well colored, sift it through a sieve onto a sheet of paper and leave to dry. Since the alcohol evaporates quickly, the semolina will dry in a matter of minutes, and you can begin to work.
How to paint semolina with gouache using a blender?
If you have a food processor or blender at hand, you can color the cereal without alcohol. Mix gouache with water, the paint can be added arbitrarily, depending on the desired saturation of the shade. Pour the resulting mixture into the bowl of the food processor and pour the groats there. Then mix everything well, the cereal should not get too wet. Pour the finished mixture on paper and leave to dry in a warm place. This option for painting cereals is ideal if you want to get a large amount of colored "sand". If several batches of cereal are painted at one time in different shades, do not forget to rinse the blender well after each color.
Coloring cereals with colored pencils
If you have unnecessary crayons for drawing or pencil leads at your fingertips, you can also use them to make colored sand. How to paint semolina at home using such dyes? Grind the lead or colored crayons to a state of dust. Then mix the resulting paint with cereal. Stir thoroughly, semolina should be colored. Since this method of painting does not involve the addition of water, you can use the grits immediately without wasting time drying.
Useful Tips
Now you know how to paint semolina with gouache, but what if there is no paint at hand? Theoretically, you can use any other dye, for example, food. Most importantly, the selected paint gives enough color with a minimum water content. Try not to wet the cereal too much, otherwise it will begin to swell and you will not succeed in the “sand” effect. It is not always convenient to paint semolina every time before a creative task. It is easier to have a stock of finished sand of various colors. Prepare transparent jars of the same size and store the colored cereals in them after drying.
If you did something wrong, and the semolina froze with lumps, try to knead them manually or with a rolling pin. Try experimenting with the amount of dye used for one serving of cereal. By adding more or less paint, you can change the intensity of the shade. Of course, how to paint semolina, in a bright or muted shade, is up to you. But if you wish, even using the basic palette of colors, you can get a whole collection of “sand” of all possible tones.
Ideas for Sandy Creativity
You now know all the ways how to paint semolina for crafts. But what to create from ready-made multi-colored cereals? “Sand” drawing is carried out in the following technique: we take a sheet of paper with a printed picture for coloring or manually draw the contours. Next, with PVA glue with a brush we cover all the places that should be painted. The final stage is the most interesting - the adhesive layer should be sprinkled with multi-colored cereals. Remove excess with a cloth and let dry. Set aside the finished drawing for a while, and after drying completely, carefully shake off the excess.
In the same technique, you can decorate some volumetric objects, for example, flower vases or coasters for pencils. Attention: if you will decorate with cereals the thing used in everyday life, finally cover it with 1-2 layers of transparent universal varnish. Try to dream up and create some other crafts from this interesting material, because you know how to paint semolina. Creative activities with colored sand are recommended for children from 1.5-2 years old. Offer this interesting type of needlework to your children, and they will definitely like it.