How to Paint a Scratch 'n Sniff Rainbow

Kids love to paint rainbows. It pleases their sense of color and sense of order. It's easy enough to create paints that will give them a chance to make a scratch 'n sniff rainbow and please their noses, too!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Water
• Watercolor paints or food coloring
• White glue
• Flavored gelatin powders in rainbow colors
• Flavor extracts
• Construction paper or card stock
• Paintbrushes

Make the Paint

1. Choose which type of scratch 'n sniff paint you'd like to make. There are three basic recipes: One that uses gelatin and water, one that uses gelatin, water and glue and one that uses watercolor paints and flavor extracts.

2. 
    

   Make simple gelatin paint by combining 1 tablespoon of flavored gelatin with 1 tablespoon of warm water. For each color of your rainbow, you'll need to make a mixture of the corresponding flavor of gelatin. To brighten the hue, you may add a drop of food coloring or watercolor paints to the mixture.

3. Make a gelatin-glue paint using glue by slightly thinning white glue with water. The glue should be thin enough that it can be spread with a paintbrush instead of dripping from it in globs. Add a little bit of watercolor paint or food coloring to color the glue. Once you've painted each portion of your rainbow with the glue mixture, sprinkle the correct flavor of gelatin onto the paper.

4. Make a scratch 'n sniff paint from watercolors and flavor extracts. Purchase orange, strawberry, lemon and peppermint extracts in the baking aisle or at a candy supply store. Put a few drops of the flavoring in the correct color paint to create an aromatic blend.

Paint Your Rainbow

5. 
    

   Draw a simple rainbow or locate a simple rainbow coloring page. A simple rainbow without a lot of extra details is easier to paint, which will help to keep the scents of each color separate. Websites like Coloring Castle have free coloring pages that can be easily downloaded and printed (see Resources below).

6. Photocopy or print the coloring page on heavy stock paper, such as construction paper or card stock. If you are unable to do so, glue the page to a piece of heavy paper.

7. Paint each stripe of the rainbow with the correct color, making sure to use a different brush for each color or to clean your paintbrush thoroughly between colors.

8. Let your painting dry overnight. After the painting dries, rub your fingers over the gelatin granules to make your rainbow into a scratch n'sniff painting.

Tips & Warnings

• While a watercolor and flavor extract mixture will create a pleasant smelling painting, it will not technically work as a scratch 'n sniff, since there are no granules from which to release an aroma.
• Keep the acronym ROY B GIV in mind if you have trouble remembering the order of the colors of the rainbow. (Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, Indigo, Violet).

Resources

• Find a rainbow coloring page at Coloring Castle

[AbbyNormal]

on 3/28/2008 I offered to do this for my daughter, but she said no thanks. I think this is cute. Maybe not for teenagers though -- teehee!

[juliesam3]

on 3/14/2008 Cool idea! I will have to try this with my daughter I am sure she will love it.

[JMOrganizations]

on 3/2/2008 What a great project to do with my grandson! Thanks.

[arianacherry99]

on 2/28/2008 Wow! Neat project. I never knew there was such as thing as scented paint though!...Cool.

[MacDonald]

on 2/28/2008 What a neat idea! I do decorative and house painting for a living...never thought of offering scented paint as a choice for my customers though!