How to make Tempera paint
I’ve been wanting to try making Tempera Paint for ages! I finally gave it a whirl with my year 7s yesterday. Fun was had by all! I made sure I did all the egg cracking though. We started by cracking one egg yolk into a plastic cup, adding some water and a little vinegar (the vinegar stops the egg going off). With an icy pole stick, we stirred the mixture up until it was smooth and of even consistency.
The egg mixture was then used as a medium for us to mix our powdered food dye into. I only bought three bottles of food dye – red, yellow and blue. I always like to get the kids to make their own colours from the primary 3.
I also gave the kids a little bit of white so they could make their colours lighter and increase the shades of colours they could make.
I put one cup of egg medium, one paint palette with the food dye and two mixing palettes on each table (4 students). Half a cup of egg medium was more than enough for 4 students to each make a six colour paint swatch (20cm x 20cm card).
I encouraged each student to try and make the most interesting colours they could. Each student also got to name each of their 6 colours with a funky name. Acid green, circus purple, orange fiasco and strawberry kiss, to name a few.
It looks so good to work with.
The children had a lot of fun, I can imagine…
cool how much fun!
It was very fun actually!! We have almost finished the paintings we created with the tempera. Coming soon!