Make It Yourself: Finger Paint

Here are multiple different ways to make your own finger paint:

Cornstarch - Water - Glycerine
Mix 1/2 cup of cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water until there are no lumps. Cook over low heat until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and then add another 1/2 cup cold water and 1 TBSP of glycerine. Mix together and then add food coloring if you want. That's all it takes!

Cornstarch-Gelatin (You will need 2 small pots and one bowl to make this recipe)
In the first pot, mix 1/2 cup of cornstarch with 3/4 cup of cold water to a smooth paste in a saucepan. In a separate bowl, mix together 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin with 1/4 cup of water. In the second pot, bring  2 cups of water to a boil. once the water is boiling, add it to the first pot and stir as your pour. Bring it to a boil again, and the mixture is clear. Remove from the heat and add the gelatin mixture (from the bowl). Then just add food coloring if you want to, and let it cool!

Cornstarch - Basic
Mix together a 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 1/2 TBSP sugar, and 1 cup cold water in a pot. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture starts out thin, but will thicken as it cooks. After it thickens, remove from heat and let it cool. Once it's cool, divide into small containers and add a few drops of food coloring. Now you are ready to paint!

Make it yourself: Table Top Easel

Photo courtesy of: http://playinghouseinmaryland.blogspot.com/2012/06/diy-tabletop-art-easel.html

Instead of buying an easel at the store for more money than you would like, why not make your own? Here's how:

Find a sturdy box and cut out one entire side. Tape the remaining 3 sides together, forming a triangle. It might help if you then taped the box on it's side to the table so it doesn't slid around. Then you just need to tape paper to the front of it for the child to draw/paint on.