While my older kids are most certainly past the play in the bath tub stage, my kids loved soaking in the bath when they were younger. I love taking Epsom salt baths to relax myself! These fun, DIY bath paints are a non-toxic way for kids to make a mess while they’re getting clean.
Most kids love painting with paintbrushes and fingers. This is a great way for them to express their creativity without needing a bath afterward… just do them at the same time.
What are Bath Paints?
Bath paints are simply paint for the shower or tub surround (tile or fiberglass). They’re fun to use during bath time and then wash off when you’re done. The paints easily wash/wipe off of the tub, but be sure to do a patch test and make sure. You don’t necessarily want your little Picasso to leave a permanent art piece in the bathroom!
While I love the idea of kids being creative, I wasn’t so excited to have certain chemicals floating around the tub with my kids. Popular store-bought bath paints for kids have ingredients that claim to be tested and safe. However, fragrance, artificial dyes, and tongue twisters like Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer aren’t chemicals I get excited about.
How to Make Homemade Bath Paints
Making homemade bath paint for kids really couldn’t be any easier. You simply need a clear, liquid soap for the base, food dye, and something to thicken the liquid. Our family avoids artificial food dyes, but there are so many natural options on the market now. You can find them online, at your local health food store, and even major grocery stores are now stocking them.
For the soap you have a few different options. Any clear liquid soap, hand soap, shampoo, or even natural dish soap should work. While Bronner’s castile soap is usually my go-to for DIY soap projects, it doesn’t work as well in this recipe. Castile soap can have more of a yellow tinge and I found it just clumped up in this recipe.
In this recipe I tested out a few different soaps and settled on natural dish soap for mine. You can experiment with the natural soaps you have on hand and use what works best for you. Just try to pick something that’s clear.
Important Note on pH
One big reason why certain soaps work and others don’t for bath paints is the pH level. If you remember from high school chemistry, alkaline pH shows up as a purple color on a color strip. Different soap products have different pH levels for a variety of reasons. However, once they’re mixed with natural food coloring (which is also pH controlled), the result can be that everything just turns purple/blue.
A clear, natural shampoo (which is naturally a pH of about 5) shouldn’t have this problem. If you’re using body soap or dish soap (pH of around 7-9) then the alkaline solution will cause all the food coloring to turn purple. The simplest solution is to add a little acid and bring the pH back down. I used lemon juice, but vinegar will work too.
Tips and Tricks
Some recipes call for cooking the ingredients together, but I didn’t find that to be necessary. Mixing everything together is much faster and simpler. I prefer to keep things simple whenever I can!
You’ll also want to make sure you break up any clumps in the cornstarch or arrowroot powder before mixing it in with the soap. This helps make for a much smoother paint. You can either do this in a bowl with a fork, or use a sifter/sieve.
Here’s how to make your own kid-friendly DIY bath paints.
DIY Bath Paint
These easy bath paints make bath time more fun! They’re non-toxic and easy to whip up.
Yield: 4 ounces
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Make sure there are no clumps in the cornstarch or arrowroot. You can either break them up with a fork in a bowl, or use a sieve.
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Add the liquid soap and lemon juice and stir until smooth.
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Separate the mixture into individual cups. A silicone tray works well too. You’ll want to have as many cups as you have colors.
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Put a few drops of food coloring into each cup and stir well.
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Use a paintbrush or fingers in the bath tub to paint the tub surround or tile with.
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Wash off the wall with water to clean it off when done.
If you want to store these to use for later then opt for vinegar instead of fresh lemon juice. Once they’ve been in the bath tub and exposed to water they’ll need used right away.
How to Use Bath Paints
Once you have your bath paints, put each color in its own separate container. Something like this silicone large cavity ice cube tray works well too. Kids can paint with either their fingers or paint brushes. If you opt for paint brushes, I’ve found they’re easier to clean with lukewarm water. Really hot water can make the corn starch get gummy and stick to the bristles more.
Most importantly have fun! (and P.S. do a patch test to ensure there won’t be staining)
How do you make bath time more fun for your kids? Leave a comment and let us know!
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