Baby safe Natural Paints
June 05, 2014 By: Amruta Kshemkalyani

Hello, Friends! Summer is getting hotter in Dubai and we mums keep finding ways to keep our kids busy indoors during the day! Evenings are still good so we spend an hour or so outdoors. Ruhaan either plays downstairs trying to copy big children or loves splashing water in the pool!

During the day he likes to clean the house or cook LOL, no it is no way help to me, but it is just a favorite role play with a lot of added work for me ;). So I try to engage him in different activities and one ‘my favorite’ is coloring or playing with colors. And so I was on a big quest of finding baby-friendly, chemical-free, VOC free colors.

Hand & Foot Print with Natural Pigment

When Ruhaan was younger, just a few weeks old and I was obsessed by hand and footprint of him to keep in my baby memory box, but I couldn’t find natural paints that could be safe for babies. You get so many organic baby products right from clothes, but organic paints are not easy to find.

Finally, I decided to experiment at home to use natural pigments from my kitchen. We dipped Ruhaan’s hand and foot in turmeric paste and attempted to take yellow prints. It looked very funny. These footprints are now safely kept in our memory box. Then my husband wanted to play with beetroot in the same way but I resisted (definitely in the fear of mess afterward. but it could have been equally memorable too).

I used to check those footprint kits kept in baby stores, but it is never mentioned that the paints are chemical-free on those made in China products. My husband proposed the molds of hand but I am always partial for paints.

DIY Natural Colors

If you are up for a fun messy play, you can also make your own natural colors from vegetables and food scraps with your kids. Watch our video tutorial here from Sustainability Tribe Youtube Channel,

Natural Colors for Babies

We Can Too Plant-Based Crayons

You get a lot of paints, like face paints, etc which are safe for toddlers, 3 years and above but not for babies. On this background, you could imagine how happy I would have been when I found crayons not just safe for babies but are made from fruits and veggies. These crayons which I bought from The Change Initiative are edible. Of course, I am not going to feed him these crayons but at this stage when kids are teething or even before that when they explore any item by putting them in the mouth I am stress-free that the crayons are not harmful in any way. My son can safely have fun with colors. And here is what he did more than coloring!

Yes, he loved the fresh fruity, flowery smell of those natural crayons LOL. He also discovered a very innovative way of coloring! I never saw somebody doing that before! Babies are so hilarious!

Have you tried coloring this way?

For parents in our Tribe, you can find a lot of natural parenting and kids eco-activity ideas in our Green Parenting section. If you interested in knowing more child-safe school essential items, read here.

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