Make Non Toxic Paint for Kids

Kids typically love using paint to create their art with. However, many paints carry serious health risks if ingested. Because of this, it is much safer to go with a non-toxic alternative. Luckily, non-toxic paint can be created at home using kitchen ingredients. Although the results may not be as vibrant as a professional paint, it's a perfect, cost-effective way for kids to brush up their skills before moving on to the real thing.

Steps

Making Non-Toxic Flour-based Paint

1. Save empty bottles. Before creating paint, it's wise to have bottles already set aside to store it with. Ketchup bottles are a perfect choice in this regard, as they're designed to be easily squirtable. When you've used up the original contents, clean it out thoroughly with water and dish soap. Dry out the insides with a wash cloth and set it aside while you get your paint prepared.
2. Combine 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water in a large bowl. Mix 1 cup each of salt, flour and water into a bowl and mix them together thoroughly. This should result in a fluid, colourless paste.
   • You can do this by placing the cups in a large Ziploc bag and shaking thoroughly, although stirring in a bowl will yield the most control.
3. Drizzle food colouring into the bowl. Once your flour paste has been stirred sufficiently, add a food colouring that matches the colour of paint you want. Continue adding food colouring and mixing it in until the paste is as colourful as you want the paint to be.
   • Alternatively, you can do this by pouring the mixture into different bags filled with food colouring. This way, you can make your essential mixture in one go, and create several different types of paint in the process.
4. Stir the mix thoroughly. Once everything has been added to your satisfaction, mix it all together thoroughly with a spatula until the homemade paint is consistent throughout. Paint that hasn't been stirred properly will clump and be harder to properly use.
5. Funnel mix into empty bottle. Take a funnel and insert the nozzle inside one of your empty ketchup bottles. Next, take the bowl with your flour paste turned paint and pour it in slowly. Rake in the remnants into the funnel with a spatula if there's a slowdown effect with the trickle.
6. Wash tools before making another colour. When you've finished making a particular colour of paint, wash out the funnel and other supplies thoroughly before moving onto the next colour. That way, you will minimize the risk of the leftover traces affecting the current paint you're making.

Making Non-Toxic Paint with Egg and Chalk

1. Collect chalk pieces. Pastel chalk is another cheap way of making paint at home. Although you'll need to add egg yolks to get the paint-like texture, the chalk sticks you choose will determine the paint's colour. Because you'll be grinding them up, aim to use older and broken pieces of chalk. Getting multiple colours in your collection will give you a variety of colour to paint with.
   • Cheaper chalk will result in a smoother texture, but you won't get the same vibrant colours as you would with higher-end chalk material.
2. Soak chalk in a muffin tray. A muffin tray will give you a secure place to make and extract your egg chalk paint from. Fill up a muffin slot with water for each colour of paint you're going to be using. Place a stick of chalk in each of these slots and let them sit for 15 minutes.
   • You can add extra sticks of chalk into the same tray slots if you want a richer colour, just so long as they're of the same colour.
3. Grind chalk into powder. With a hammer, you can gently crush the soggy chalk sticks into a powder. After they've soaked, they will be much easier to break apart and shouldn't put up much of a fight. Stir the mix when you're done to disperse the colour throughout each tray slot.
   • You can also mush the chalk together with your bare hands if the chalk sticks have grown soggy enough.
4. Flash pasteurize eggs. Raw eggs will make someone sick if they're ingested. In order for the egg paint to be truly non-toxic, you'll need to pasteurize them first. Crack the eggs you're making paint with and cook on high temperature for a couple of minutes. The yolk needs to reach a temperature of 138 degrees Fahrenheit.
   • Don't overcook them to the point of scrambling. If your eggs scramble, you won't be able to use them in your paint.
   • You can skip out on pasteurizing the eggs, but raw eggs will make children very sick if they're ingested. You can skip this if the children are old enough to know not to eat it.
5. Separate egg yolk from egg whites. Because the egg whites will do nothing for your paint's consistency, you should physically remove the yolks from the rest of the egg before adding them to the paint.
6. Add an egg yolk to each chalked space on the muffin tray. Place yolk in each of the tray slots you're making paint in. This will give the mix a thicker texture. Continue to add bits of yolk to the mix until there's a paint-like consistency to the mix.
   • The egg will provide a glossy finish once the paint dries.
7. Let it sit for a few minutes. Once you've added your proper proportions to your mix, it's a good idea to give it a few minutes to properly settle. This will allow the mix time for the colours and yolky consistency to disperse properly.
8. Use the paint. Once you've allowed the paint to sit, it should be ready to use. Leave the yolk in, but make sure that solid chunks of yolk aren't caught by your brush. You can paint directly out of the muffin tray.

Exploring Other Paint Making Methods

1. Add glow powder or paint. Because you're making the paint yourself, you can add whatever you'd like. Glow powder is a great way to add zest to your concoction. Add some glow powder to the flour paste and stir it consistently. You won't need a lot of glow paint in order to get the "glow in the dark" effect it's supposed to create.
   • Keep in mind that certain types of glow powder are toxic if ingested. It may be best to avoid this if the paint is going to be used by young children.
2. Use old candies for food colouring. If candies are old and stale, they can still be used as a food colouring agent in your paint. Put the soft candies you want to melt in the microwave for a few seconds, take them out and add them to your flour paste. Keep candies categorized according to their colour, as mixing random candies together will result in a murky or unpredictable colour.
   • By making the food colouring from actual foods, you'll get some of the original food's scent as well. This is especially true in the case of Starbursts.
3. Make a natural watercolour paint with fresh flowers. Fresh, brightly coloured flowers will colour water if they're submerged. If there's a colourful garden nearby, go out and pick some bright flowers. Place each colour of flower in a Ziploc bag, and add enough water to cover the flower. Once the flowers and water are in the bag, roll them over slowly with a rolling pin. This will squeeze the colour out of the flower and into the water. From there, you'll have a functional watercolour paint to work with.
   • Make sure that the bags aren't too full. Half a cup of water per Ziploc bag should be enough. Having too much water will both dilute the paint and risk your bag popping when you roll it over with a pin.

Using Homemade Paint

1. Squirt paint onto a palette. Once your paint is prepared, you should squirt a dab of paint onto a piece of cardboard next to the piece of paper that's being painted on. This will offer the painter easy access to the paint without having to dip into the bottle each time.
   • Alternatively, you can unscrew the cap of the ketchup bottle and dip in the paintbrush directly. You should only dip in the tip. This will offer the painter the best-possible control when using the paint.
2. Apply the paintbrush to the paper. Your homemade paint may be used in much the same way as a watercolour paint. Take the brush and paint in strokes. Because the paint is coloured only by food colouring, you should apply lots of paint in order to get a decent colour.
   • Learning how to paint is a process that can take years by certain definitions. However, for the sake of simple homemade kid's paint, fun should be emphasized over technique.
3. Allow paint time to dry. Although homemade paint will appear transparent at first, when it dries it will look more opaque. Give the paint at least a couple of hours to dry entirely.
4. Microwave artwork for a few seconds. Microwaving the paint will make the ingredients in the paint settle and bring out some of the food colouring further. Put the artwork in the microwave for 3-5 seconds. Make sure not to put it in for much longer than that, as you may risk damaging or even burning the artwork.
5. Expect realistic results. Homemade products can sometimes be as good as the real thing. In the case of non-toxic kid's paint, however, you won't get the same vibrant colours you could expect from store bought paint. Nonetheless, this won't stop the homemade concoction from being a lot of fun.

Tips

• In order to save time, you should make multiple batches of paint at once. One large batch of flour paste can be used to create several different colours of paint.

Warnings

• Although the paint is water soluble and won't stain, stirring the paste together can create a mess.

Related Articles

• Make Nontoxic Watercolor Paint
• Face Paint Kids for Halloween
• Sponge Paint With Kids

Sources and Citations

See also

• Mix Green Paint
• Make Red
• Make Purple Paint
• Mix Colors to Make Pink
• Make Glow in the Dark Paint
• Mix Colors to Make Dark Blue
• Make Puffy Paint
• Mix Paint Colors to Make Brown
• Make Paint Colors
• Make Milk Paint

Read more ...