Summer is the perfect season for engaging children in creative, messy art. Last summer, my boys created dozens of gorgeous Squirt Gun Paintings in our backyard. Shared below is our latest summer art project, Soap Foam Printing! I just know your kids will love it as much as mine did!

 

Soap Foam Prints are incredibly vibrant and have a really cool texture and pattern. I love them so much, I’ve even digitized them to use as texture overlays in Photoshop.

The speckles you see in the art are not pixels! When the foam dries on the paper, it pops and condenses to create a pattern reminiscent of leather. The prints feel smooth and waxy.

 

Want to make some! Here’s how:

Soap Foam Printing

Materials:

• Watercolor Paper
• Liquid Watercolors
• Dish Soap
• Straws, whisks, or rotary beaters
• bowl

Directions:

1. Squirt a few tablespoons of dish soap into a bowl and fill it with water.

2. Mix the water using a whisk or rotary beater, or blow bubbles into the bowl with a straw.

 

3. After plenty of bubbles have been created, squirt liquid watercolors over them. Continue blowing into the bowl and/or mixing the water and adding color. Soap foam will spill out of the bowl and settle on top of the water when the bubbles begin to pop. I let my son go nuts with this part!

 

4. Place a piece of watercolor paper over the soap foam and hold it down for a moment. Lift the paper and set it down to dry completely.

The print will be foamy and wet! As it dries, the foam will evaporate leaving behind lovely colors, gradients, and patterns.

 

5. Repeat! We had a blast mixing colors and making dozens of prints.