I’ve been considering trying to make this with natural veggie, plant, or fruit dyes, but I’m not sure how well it will work. If you do try to make painting soap with all natural dyes remember that not all plants are safe for kids to be slathering on their bodies.

If you aren’t sure that the plant is safe for your child (i.e. won’t cause an allergic reaction) then don’t use the dye in a body care product like this.

Gather together:

• 6 Tbs. cornstarch
• 2 Tbs. water
• Organic food coloring
• Your favorite essential oil – something mild like lavender or orange is good for children.
• 1 oz. unscented organic liquid soap – most natural food stores and co-ops sell clear organic liquid soap in bulk.
• A bottle or bowl for the soap paint

To make the painting soap:

1. Mix the cornstarch, water, and a few drops of oil. Stir well.
2. Add drops of color until you reach your desired shade. Mix the color in well.
3. Add the liquid soap to the mixture, mix, and adjust color if needed.
4. Store in your container.

Kids can use this to paint the bathtub and their bodies during bath time. It won’t hurt your kids or your tub. You can also put the kids in an empty kiddie pool outside and let them paint. Another option I’ve been considering is to buy organic soap flakes and use that instead of cornstarch and liquid soap. You could make little soap crayons (or balls). I haven’t tried it – but I bet it would work. Well, maybe.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

What you need to gather:

1. 1/3 cup grated natural, organic, pure soap – liquid soap won’t work as well, I tried once, but give it a shot if you like (I could have just messed up). You can use an old thrift store cheese grater or potato peeler to grate your soap
2. 1 cup water.
3. 1 cup cornstarch.
4. Your natural dyes.

To make:

1. Add 1/2 cup water to your cornstarch and mix.
2. Boil the other 1/2 cup of water and pour over soap.
3. Stir the soap and water until the soap melts.
4. Pour soap mix into the cornstarch mix and blend together with a spoon.
5. Let your mixture sit around and thicken – it shouldn’t take long. Once it’s finger paint thick, pour into separate bowls, and stir in your dye to each of the bowls.

You can keep this for about 2-3 weeks, but store in the fridge. This paint works well on glossy finger pain paper, regular paper, and newsprint. It doesn’t seem to work so well for us on fabrics, because it looks more like a stain than paint.

One thing that’s kind of fun to do on a hot day, is to place an old sheet on the ground (OUTSIDE!) and then place your paper on it. Get some of those long handled paint brushes, and let your kids dip into the paint, then fling paint at the paper. You know, when you pull back a paint brush and let go (is there a better word than fling?). If kids get paint on them, no worries, while I don’t suggest drinking a large glass of it, it’s non-toxic and won’t hurt them; barring soap, or juice dye allergies.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family