Toddler Safe Paint Recipe
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 12:17
I just sat down to get started on taking the pictures on today’s “Tuesday Tutorial” and then realised that pattern pieces and designs are currently sitting in my husband’s laptop bag, that is currently sitting in an office in North Sydney. Oops. I guess that’s what I get for scribbling down my ideas the moment inspiration strikes… and writing them on the back of his meeting notes! In my defence, I promise they did just look like scraps of paper.
So just a quickie today, and hopefully I should be able to get a more substantial tutorial up either tomorrow or Thursday, “Tutorial Thursday” sounds just as good, right?
My toddler loves to finger paint and get messy, but he’s still at that stage where as far as he’s concerned everything is edible, nothing is safe from going into his mouth, and so I’m somewhat hesitant in buying poster paints from stores without knowing exactly what’s in them and what he’s ingesting, and so this is my fix, non-toxic toddler safe paint where I know exactly what’s in it.
Fern’s Fabulous Recipe For Toddler Safe Paint
Throw two cups of any kind of flour you have laying around the house into a bowl, add COLD water until it forms a fairly smooth paste free of any big lumps, then slowly add freshly boiled (kettle is fine) HOT water, stirring constantly until it forms the right consistency – if you’re finger painting you’ll want it to be a little thicker, so add less water obviously.
Split the mix into however many colours you’d like, add a few drops of food dye to each pot and you have non-toxic completely toddler safe “paint”, they can eat as much as that like, and although it won’t taste fabulous (Declan gave up after one mouthful) you will know exactly what they’re putting in their mouth. Considering the amount of paint a toddler can go through as well, this is a far cheaper alternative to buying bottle after bottle of poster paint.
Only make up as much as you’ll need for each paint session as it doesn’t keep for more than 24 hours without going crunchy and hard. You can see some of my son’s finished artwork using the flour paint here, these were several months ago and they still look just as good now, you can’t tell that they weren’t made using “real” paint.
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Anna says:
August 5th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
This is a fabulous idea!! I will so have to make some for my little brother and little sister, who I am assuming are pretty near your son’s (who is adorable) age.
Hoppo Bumpo says:
August 5th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
It is a fabulous recipe indeed! Thank you very much for this. My 1 year-old will love it. I caught him eating chalk this morning (yuk!), so this homemade paint will be just perfect for us!
Fern says:
August 5th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Feel free to post the finished masterpieces guys! Toddler artwork is the best
Tamsyn says:
August 5th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Great idea Fern, I just emailed it to my sister…. last time I was painting with my niece I accidentally let her drink the brush water – at least if she does it with this paint I won’t get in as much trouble
jenn says:
August 6th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
oh thats awesome!!! I’m going to have to try it!!
Leah says:
August 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Hey Fern. Check it out:
http://www.littlebitabout.com/2008/08/craftblog-to-rescue.html
Erin says:
August 16th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Just wondering, does the food die stain their hands? I used food dye as a wash with some kids and it stained their hands for ages. Hopefully it doesn’t happen for this paint
How To Paint Like A Toddler « Not Nigella says:
November 29th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
[...] Shameless Plug: Non-toxic toddler safe paint recipe. [...]
Scout says:
April 4th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
great idea! we are definetly trying this out!
Zee says:
August 5th, 2009 at 12:47 am
thanks for this great idea! will definitely try it tomorrow with my son
canvas paintings says:
November 19th, 2009 at 7:08 am
this is a great idea I am going to try this with my daughter tomorrow, thanks for the info!!
Crafty says:
February 5th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Well thats done it for me – I’m bookmarking your site!
Im normally more a reader than commenter – and have given in to the temptation to post twice in one day!
I just wanted to thank you for this recipe – it’s also about to be handed on to the kids kindy teacher. She makes her own play dough but uses commercial paint – so hopefully they will find use for this, I know I will at home.
Thanks again! Crafy
candace says:
May 20th, 2010 at 3:32 am
Hi… I was wondering.. would this stand up if you put on material and wash it?? Im looking for a paint thats safe for kids to make hand prints to put on a quilt square for their teacher. Let me know..thanks!!
Sarah says:
July 9th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Stumbling by – GREAT CRAFT IDEA! Thanks!
Fern says:
August 19th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
No Candace, it won’t. I’d suggest using fabric paint and putting the kids in full art smocks or old clothes