Home Made Paint

Home made paint is fantastic for messy play with babies and toddlers who are prone to putting everything in their mouths. Obviously you wouldn’t want your baby to be eating shop bought paint so, to give your baby or toddler a fun, sensory and messy experience why not try making your own?

I have experimented with a few recipes with my two in the past. Here are some ideas:

1. Corn starch based paint: 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp salt, 1/2 cup corn starch, 2 cups water. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and then separate small amounts into other small bowls / containers. Now add a different colour food colouring to each small bowl so you get a variety of colours. You could store each colour in a small jar or tupperware container for a few days to use again.
2. Yoghurt based paint: Get some yoghurt and divide it into little containers or bowls or whatever you have. Add a different colour food colouring to each amount of yoghurt and mix. That’s it!

You can give your baby just one colour or you can give them a few at a time. If the weather is good you might like to go outside to reduce the mess in the house. Alternatively you colour cover the surface or floor in newspaper or a large plastic sheet for easy clean up. You can give paper to your baby or toddler to smear with ‘paint’ or just let them smear it over their highchair / the table / whatever surface you wish. I tend to just let my kids fingerpaint to begin with but you could give them a baby safe paintbrush or other implement to ‘paint’ with. I add in brushes or sponges when they are one.

As a variation you could also add a pinch of cinnamon or other flavour to your paint for a lovely smell and added flavour!