No watered down colors here!

    This past week my classroom spray painted their art.
    Many preschool teachers put drops of food coloring in a spray bottle with water.  The spray bottles create great designs and create fine motor activities. 
    The children can then spray paper, shirts, pillow cases, and more. The problem is that food coloring takes a few washes to get out of clothing and sometimes hands.
    My classroom also uses watercolors on a weekly basis.  The dry palettes of watercolors work great, but the colors continually run together and the palettes have to be thrown away when the colors run out or have become muddy.
     The solution for both art areas may be liquid watercolors.  Liquid watercolors come in bottles as little as eight ounces.  The bottles cost around $3 a piece (Kwik Crafts: Liquid Watercolor). 
    The water colors are washable and you only use the amount you need and can save the rest instead of running the risk of mixing colors on a palette.
    Some new ideas from the alphabet soup website for water colors are opening up old markers(if possible, crayola markers don't open) and put in a few drops, color plain pasta or rice, and add a few drops to shaving cream. 
    So instead of stocking up on food coloring and palettes, just try using the liquid watercolors.

    User tips: 
    -I would recommend holding up the material being sprayed with the water bottles and perhaps even doing the art outside for minimal cleanup.
    -If you buy the primary colors in the liquid watercolor bottles, those can be mixed and you won't have to buy ten different $3 bottles.  This makes the product more affordable and usable for the home and the classroom.