Bring Some Realism into Your Kids Artwork -make your own scented Finger Paints

These essential oil scented finger paints are easy to make, and a lot of fun to play with. Kids of all ages will love discovering the different scents of these paints as they create beautiful pictures and designs. Using finger paints is also a great way to help develop creativity, motor skills, and hand-eye coordination in younger children.

Instructions:

1. In a small cup or bowl, mix 1/4 cup of liquid laundry starch with 1 tsp. powdered tempera paint (5 drops of food coloring will also work if powdered tempera paints are not available).

2. Repeat the step above using different colors of powdered tempera paint until you have a good variety of colors (4-6 colors is usually sufficient).

3. Mix 2-3 drops of a different essential oil with each color of paint.

Some good combinations are:
lavender or Peace & Calming Blend for purple or blue;
pine, spruce, or fir for green;
peppermint for red or white;
chamomile for yellow;
spearmint for blue;
and cedarwood for brown.

You can also try coming up with your own unique combinations, therapeutic-grade essential oils can be found at my website.

4. Carefully pour each color of paint into a 2 oz. plastic bottle and replace the cap on the bottle.

5. (Optional) Create a label for each bottle with the color, scent and instructions…for example, your label might read:

“Essentially Scented Finger Paints:
Little Lucy’s Lavender Blue
Instructions: shake bottle, open, squeeze paint onto a sheet of finger-paint or freezer paper, and have fun painting!”

6. Before painting, shake the bottle a little bit, then open the bottle and squeeze out the desired amount of paint onto finger-paint paper, freezer paper, or thick paper. You can spread the paint with your fingers, or with small paintbrushes.

7. Note: Make sure that younger children are supervised by an adult at all times while they are using these paints. Although they smell good, the liquid starch used would probably not be good to swallow.

Additional Ideas:

1. If you are giving a set of these finger paints as a gift, you may want to include sheets of finger-paint paper (or a roll of freezer paper) to paint on, or a small apron or painting smock to protect clothes.

2. Use a set of these paints to help teach a pre-school class about the senses. You can talk about how the paints look, how they smell, and how they feel.

Be mindful of the essential oils you choose to purchase, particularly around children: Information found here refers solely to products from Young Living Essential Oils and is for educational purposes only. Young Living uses only therapeutic grade oils. Most essential oils available are perfume grade or poor quality essential oils and may possibly be harmful due to unknown additives and poor plant or distillation conditions. US labeling for essential oils is governed by the Perfume Act, allowing labels to say “100%”pure essential oil” and by law contain only 5% of any grade oils. Know what you’re buying.