Natural Watercolor Paints

This was part of one of our unit study lessons and thought I would share it. I thought it was a neat idea. Not only do the kids get to participate in the cooking of the paint, then they get to paint with it. I would say there isn't anything my kids love more than painting. They would paint at any moment in any day if I let them.

How we did it:
Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil
Drop in 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
Simmer until water is very dark, about 20 minutes
Strain
Let cool
Paint!
This can be stored in the fridge for a week

We also did spinach. As you can see above it did not come out green. It came out yellow :/ I "think" that if I had processed the spinach in the food processor before boiling it might have been more green.

From what I've read you can also do raspberries, red cabbage, blackberries, cherries, and more.

Just thought it was a neat idea. I really liked the way it dried on the paper. It actually darkened as it dried.
So go for it, make your own watercolors!