Related: Sensory Play Recipes for Kids
You'll find all sorts of creative ideas to try in this list of homemade paint for kids, such as fizzy sidewalk paint, scented textured paint, and even scratch-and-sniff paint that the kids will be talking about for hours.
Most of these recipes are made using common pantry and household ingredients, so there's no trip to the store required. Just round up the ingredients, make your paint, and get started on your creative project!
Check out our list of fun art projects for kids and test out a few of the paint recipes!
Homemade Paint
Homemade Paint Recipes from Messy Little Monster
We've made so many homemade paint recipes right here at MLM. The glow-in-the-dark paint is our latest and greatest, but the fizzy sidewalk chalk, snow paint, and microwave puffy paint were hits with the kids, too.Glow in the Dark Paint
Your kids will be so excited to create a picture using our easy Homemade Glow in the Dark Paint Recipe! It's a super easy blend of glow-in-the-dark pigment powder and your favorite acrylic paint. Once you're done, take your painting into a dark room to watch it glow. The kids will love hanging their art in their rooms. No blacklight is needed to see the glow—just a dark room.
Fizzy Sidewalk Chalk Paint
Our Fizzy Sidewalk Chalk Paint is an art project and a science experiment in one fun activity. It's such a fun activity for summer, but really, you can try this any time of year. The fizzy paint is created with baking soda, cornstarch, water, and food dye. Once you paint your design on the sidewalk, spritz it with the vinegar to start the fizzing reaction. Kids will love this one!
Simple Homemade Paint
You don't need expensive ingredients to make your own paint at home for arts and crafts. Our Easy Homemade Paint Recipe is made with pantry ingredients that you probably have already, like flour, salt, and food coloring. That makes it easy to whip up a batch for a little creative time without heading to the store for paint supplies.
Sidewalk Chalk Paint
Spend a little time outdoors making beautiful artwork on your sidewalk or driveway! Our 3 ingredient Sidewalk Chalk Paint Recipe is made with baking soda, cornstarch, water, and food coloring. The colors look so bright and vivid on the sidewalk. If yours aren't dark enough, add more food coloring. Paint a friendly message for your neighbors or passersby to brighten their day.
Nature Paint
Spend a relaxing afternoon with the kids hunting outdoors for color rich nature and then use it to mix up your own Nature Paint! This is such an easy way to make paint and kids will love experimenting with different pieces of nature to see what color paint they can make. Test your new paint colors out on our cute paints made by nature printable.
Kids Bath Paint
Make bath time super fun with our kids Bath Paint Recipe. It's perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, and even older children who are otherwise reluctant to take their baths. We made ours with baby shampoo, cornstarch, and cosmetic pigment powder. Sponge paintbrushes work best with this paint recipe.
Peeps Edible Puffy Paint
When springtime comes, and marshmallow Peeps are everywhere, reserve a few to make this fun recipe for Peeps Edible Puffy Paint. You'll create pretty pastel colors that are perfect for painting on eggs, bunnies, etc. Plus, it's edible, so you don't have to worry about your toddler sneaking a bite during art time.
Outdoor Puffy Paint
Want to make your sidewalk chalk drawings REALLY stand out? Our Homemade Outdoor Puffy Paint is the perfect way to do just that! You'll need some clear squirt bottles for this recipe. Not only is it a handy way to store the paint, but it makes it easy to draw lines and letters with the paint while maintaining its puffiness.
Edible Paint for Babies
Babies love the sensory experience of dipping their fingers in paint and smearing it on paper, but you have to be so careful with the materials you let them use. That's why we made our Edible Paint Recipe. It's made with plain natural yogurt and food coloring, so your baby can taste and paint with a brush or with fingers without worry.
Snow Paint
The first snow of the season is always exciting, isn't it? But sometimes it's just too frigid to go out and play, but you can bring the snow indoors for a bit of fun. This Snow Paint recipe is so fun to make and play with, creating really soft watercolors! What kind of wintery scenes will you make with your paint?
Coffee Paint
Paint with Coffee and learn about value in art! Coffee paint can be made using instant coffee or regular coffee, just simply mix coffee and water together. The more water you add to the coffee the lighter the paint will become. Try using our landscape printable to make your own coffee painting.
Microwave Puffy Paint
This Microwave Puffy Paint is, by far, one of our favorite homemade paint recipes! All you need is self-rising flour, salt, water, and food coloring. Create your artwork, pop it in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds, and it puffs right up. The kids will be totally mesmerized!
Bath Paints with Shaving Cream
Mix fluffy paint in a muffin tin, spread it over the walls of your bath, and so much more! Our first Homemade Bath Paints recipe was made with shaving cream and gel food coloring. Since you probably have both on hand, this is an easy activity to set up before bathtime tonight. It washes away easily, too.
Ice Paint
If you are looking for an easy and taste safe paint recipe you will love these Ice Paints. Made from just water and food coloring they are perfect for little toddlers or preschoolers that still like to put everything in their mouth!If you are looking for brighter colors check out our Ice Painting sticks made from paint.
Homemade Watercolor paint
Grab some sharpies and some rubbing alcohol and you can make this Homemade Watercolor Paint in no time at all!
Painting with Spices
Make a painting that both looks and smells great! Painting With Spices is a painting experience that involves several senses and its great fun! So go and raid your spice cupboard and see what you can find!
Snow Spray Paint
If you have a covering of snow you have to try out this Snow Spray Paint. Kids will love turning the snow various colors. You could even use it to make a colored snowman!
Homemade Chalk Paint
Use our simple Homemade Chalk Paint on your chalkboards indoors or even on your sidewalk outside. You'll need to grate or grind up some chalk for this and then combine it with water. Super easy!
Edible Milk Paint
Make your own Painted Bread using our edible milk paint. Kids will love making a painting that they can eat.
More Easy Homemade Paint Recipes
Eucalyptus Bath Paint
This Eucalyptus Bath Paint by Simple Fun for Kids is a great way to help your kids out when they have colds or stuffiness while letting them enjoy a bit of playtime in the bathtub. It's scented with a eucalyptus bubble bath to add to the sensory experience.
Homemade Baby Paint
Babies can have so much fun with this Homemade Baby Paint with Yogurt and Kool-Aid by Active Littles. It's made with yogurt and Kool-Aid powder, so you don't have to worry about food coloring if you don't have it on hand. In addition to adding color, the Kool-Aid will also make the paint smell wonderful.
Homemade Glitter Paint
Need a little more sparkle in your life? Kids who love all things that sparkle will have a blast with this Homemade Glitter Paint by Simple Fun for Kids. It's made with clear hair gel, glitter, and liquid watercolors and will add lots of shimmer to your kids' designs.
3-Ingredient Bath Paint
This 3-Ingredient Homemade Bath Paint by A Mom's Impression is made with just three ingredients: shampoo, cornstarch, and food coloring. It's similar to our own bath paint, but food coloring is more accessible if you can't get your hands on cosmetic powder quickly. However, test the paint first in your bath to make sure it won't stain.
2-Ingredient Sidewalk Chalk Paint
Combine food coloring and shaving cream to make Homespun Hydrangea's super simple 2-Ingredient Homemade Sidewalk Chalk that's light, fluffy, and easy to apply. It washes off easily, too, so you don't have to worry about it sticking to your sidewalk.
DIY Liquid Watercolor
Have you ever bought those inexpensive Crayola watercolor paint palettes in the kids' craft aisle? If you're not a fan of the paint cakes, try turning them into liquid watercolors instead. This post on DIY Liquid Watercolor by Preschool Inspirations shows you how to do just that using the paint cakes and a bit of warm water. It creates such vivid liquid watercolors.
Textured Finger Paints
Change things up a bit with some Textured Finger Paints by Parenting Chaos. Combine tempera paint with spices, extracts, cereal, fresh herbs, etc. to create paint that feels different and smells great.
Edible Chocolate Paint
Use cocoa powder and corn syrup to make some fun Edible Chocolate Paint for the kids. This paint from Sugar, Spice & Glitter is glossy and tasty, so the kids will enjoy trying a little on their fingers as they paint their projects.
Edible Finger Paint
Make Edible Finger Paint in any color using condensed milk and food coloring. This paint looks shiny rather than dull as it goes on the page. When it dries, it is a few shades lighter, so encourage your kids to create layers of color if they like darker colors on the page.
Scratch and Sniff Paint
This Scratch and Sniff Paint by Kids Activities Blog will surely take you back to your childhood when you were obsessed with the scratch n' sniff stickers. Or was that just me? This paint is made with glue, water, and something to give the paint color and scent, such as cocoa powder or Kool-aid. Extracts plus food coloring will also work.
Pin this list of fun homemade paint recipes to have them on hand the next time your kids want to get crafty and artistic!
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