DIY Watercolors Update

One of the busiest posts on this blog is from 2010. It is still by far my most popular post, where I first talked about re-using dried out markers. At that point, I really had no idea that this idea was not so well known! We have been up cycling our markers for.... well... over a decade now!
The process for making your own liquid Watercolors has not changed. Basically, you collect the markers that have dried out (I like to have a container available for each color) and put them in water. In the beginning... I would just put the whole marker in the water, but after awhile I decide to take them apart. (It was easier for storage... and quite simple to do with needle nosed pliers). Initially, I would also use jars... like this:

Now, instead of glass jars, I use plastic condiment bottles. Additionally, I don't tend to wait for a pile of markers to pull them apart. Whenever a marker no longer works, it is disassembled and the inserts are added to the appropriate bottle and stored for easy use!

You can easily see the marker inserts inside the bottles sitting on the shelf.

We use our DIY liquid Watercolors a lot! We use them for a lot of different variations of painting, in our playdough, and basically any play recipe that calls for coloring that will not be eaten! Here are a couple of photos from the last week where were used them:

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