Soap Cloud Painting
Use a different method of painting and see what happens when the colors come together on the page.
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Materials
• Heavy water color paper
• Plastic trays
• Pump soap containers
• Paint scraper (or ruler)
• Liquid watercolor
• Water
• Tarp or newspaper to line the table
• 365 Baby Foam Foaming Wash or other clear hand soap.
Setup
At a table lined with tarp or newspaper, place a piece of the water color paper in a tray and set one down at each place setting. Set out as many soap pump containers as desired with the premade paint solution.
If using foaming soap, create the solution by filling the bottle ¾ of the way with the liquid foaming soap and squirting liquid watercolor inside until the color of the soap is vibrant when it squirts out of the bottle. If using non-foaming clear hand soap, create the solution by mixing water and soap until it’s ¾ of the way full in the bottle, and repeating the same process of adding the color.
Directions
1. Have students pump the watercolor soap paint on the paper. Children can spray about six times total with various colors per piece of paper before it becomes oversaturated.
2. Students can make note of the form the paint takes when it’s inside the bottle versus when it’s pumped out, as well as what the colors do when they come in contact with each other. Students can experiment with tilting or blowing on their trays to see if the colors move based on different processes, or they can drag their hands through the foam as a sensory experiment.
3. When the students are finished with their paper, they can use a ruler or paint scraper to scrape of the excess paint and foam, before setting it out to dry.
4. Alternatively, this activity can be done outside and the paper can be laid on the ground.
Investigation Questions:
Learning Standards
Students will explore a chemical change in soap and paint when they use soap pumps and liquid water color to create artwork.
25.A.ECd Investigate and participate in activities using visual arts materials
Students will create a painting using the foaming cloud paint and investigate different ways they can combine colors or move the paint around their paper.
25.B.ECa Describe or respond to their creative work or the creative work of others.
Students will describe and analyze their artwork throughout the creating process and after they’ve finished.
12.C.ECa Identify, describe, and compare the physical properties of objects.
Students will describe and investigate the change in matter from when the foaming paint is inside the bottle compared to when it’s on the paper.