I've always been a fan of liquid watercolors, but when it comes to using them in my classroom, they've always been on the higher end of my price range. We usually opt for the typical dry watercolors in a pan, but sometimes with the younger artists it's a harder process to understand how to add water to each color and switch between colors without mixing a "yucky brown", as we like to call it! I am SUPER excited about my new liquid watercolors! They are so surprisingly easy to make and use, I'm loving it for the classroom. Here's how I did it - you can do it, too! First, grab some DRIED OUT markers, Crayola Markers work great. I tested out all of the markers in our classroom and set aside the ones that were mostly dried out that we would no longer be using. You'll want to take off all the lids, and set these markers, with the tip down, in a cup of water. Yes, just water!!
I let them sit for a couple of days like this, and then I decided to saw/cut them open to get the rest of the color out! Inside each marker is a sponge that holds all of the color. If you can get the marker open, take out the sponge, cut it in half and place it in the water as well. This way, all of that extra color isn't being wasted! I let my cut-apart markers sit like this for about a week, and then decided it was finally time to move them into my squeeze bottles (which are SO cute!)
I filled each bottle about a third of the way with the pure mixture that was created in the cup, and then added water to fill it up the rest of the way. Of course, you don't have to add water if you want your watercolors to be a bit darker, but adding water doesn't affect them too much and it makes them last WAY longer! I let my students use these watercolors by squirting a little of each color in a styrofoam egg carton or into glass jars, and we can put whatever we didn't use right back into the squeeze bottles. This process is super easy to do at home, and a great way to use those dried out markers! If you try this out, please let me know what you think!