Kids love to painting. Moms don’t love to clean up the mess. What if you could combine painting with cleaning the bathtub?
The answer is
bath tub paint!
You can make it thick and use it as finger paint, or you can dilute it and use it with paintbrushes. This paint is washable, does not stain and will help you clean your tub.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup of Dish Detergent
- 1/2 Cup of Cornstarch
- 1/2 Cup of boiling water
- Food Coloring (liquid kind is best)
I used antibacterial, scented hand soap. Know whatever soap you use, your kids will coat themselves with it “ so be sure to pick something that won’t cause a reaction.
Directions:
Mix the cornstarch into the hot water until it is dissolved and the consistency is pasty.
Add the soap and mix until there are no chunks.
Add food coloring.
Store in an airtight container.
The paint may separate slightly when stored, stir before use. Test the paint on a patch of your tub to ensure that your food coloring does not stain “ and have fun!
More Paint Fun From Kids Activities Blog
Let’s learn
how to make paint!
This post was inspired by Katey at Having Fun at Home. She has super fun activities to keep your kids occupied – in and out of the tub! Here is more painting play in the bathtub from Katey.
This sounds like a fabulous idea. I was wondering, though, If i wanted to paing the kids bathtub (the outside of it and the upper walls) could i leave this on longterm or will it stain? Thanks!!
What a great way to get your shower or tub washed? Thanks great idea!
This is such a cool idea, can’t wait to try it with my son!
this was a great idea and it was great for my daughter too. She has so much fun with it that she dosen’t like to stop. I use this soap paint on my drive way and it works like really well no mess to have after ward and it washes away too with out no stains which is another great thing. I had my daughter at first use her fingers but then we switched to paint brushes and that works really good. I like my bath paint thick thou its easyer to spreed on.
Well thanks for the great idea it will be treasured for a life time.
So I made these this morning for my nephews so I don’t have any feedback yet about how well they work or if they stain but I can offer some advice while you are making it. My second color was much better than my first.
First off, I dissolved 1/2c cornstarch in 1/2c cold water and added it to the hot water just before it started to boil. I kept it on med heat as I slowly added the cornstarch and stirred the whole time. I then added the soap slowly (I used baby soap since this is for a 1yr old and 3 yr old). I then added food coloring. I had all of my ingredients right next to me so I could just grab them and keep stirring. It never clumped but it did on the first try when I added the cornstarch to the boiling water.
Also, when I rinsed the pan in bwtn colors I got a sink fulllllll of bubbles that wouldn’t go away. So I added salt to the pain and to the sink before I washed the pan and this keeps the bubbles to a minimum. Also rinse slowly!
Hope this helps!
I was just lamenting the amount of effort it took to clean off their bath crayons. This looks to be much brighter, easier to use, and easier to clean. Might have to give it a try, especially now that we are getting into the warmer weather and the bathtub is our pool!
What a great distraction from work this was! Much better than the number crunching I usually do. Thanks for the pick-me-up!
Nice idea in theory – until your kids start colouring the bathroom tiles and furniture with their other pens and crayons because they had so much fun.
Doesn’t cornstarch only dissolve in cold water? I really could swear that’s why all recipes make you dissolve it in cold water before adding it to things 🙂
yes i am going meg’s house