My belly is pink, Dear Reader.
This past Sunday, I was trying out a recipe for bath paint, and I was stained. The staining appears to be permanent. Gracie Anna is stained, too, thanks for asking.
Fortunately, our skin cells will not live forever, and our bellies and legs will return to their normal color in a week or two. I hope.
At any rate, the bath paints were super fun, and my friend at KaNani Essentials is sending me some organic bath paints that are guaranteed not to stain.
But you aren't looking for bath paints, you're looking for bath crayons, like the ones I used to color Joe and Grace uses color on the sink. We've been making those, too.
Homemade Bath Crayons
Ingredients:
- 1 bar Ivory soap
- Warm water
- Food coloring
Instructions:
- Grate the bar of soap. You'll need about 1 cup of soap shavings. I use Ivory because it's very mild. It's what Grace's dermatologist recommended, and it's what we use at home. Unfortunately, there isn't a short cut to the grating, unless you use a food processor. You can't use detergent or powdered soap. They're too harsh.
- Add food coloring and warm water, a few tablespoons at a time, to the soap shavings and mix until it forms a thick dough. You can add more water or soap shavings to get the right consistency.
- Once the dough is firm, you can shape it into crayons by hand or press it into candy molds. I made ours into little cigars so that they'd be easy for Grace to handle.
- At this point, you can leave the crayons out to dry and harden. Amy from MomAdvice puts hers in the freezer for 10 minutes or so, and then leaves them out to dry after that.
Notes:
- You probably want to test the crayons on your bathtub and other surfaces before you unleash the children with them. Make sure they rinse off.
- Ditto with your skin. I learned that one for you.
- I found some neon food coloring at my grocery store that is splendid. I love it.
- If you want to make your crayons different colors (as opposed to all one color as in the instructions above), you can separate the soap shavings into smaller chunks, and mix each with water and food coloring to get the right consistency.
- If you're interested, you can get real crayon-shaped molds at the craft store.
When you're all done, take some pictures! I'd love to see them.
Lil says
Quick and easy bath paint: Shaving cream and food coloring or fingerpaint. 🙂 It not only doesn't stain, it cleans. (Remember using shaving cream to clean your desk at school? Yeah.)
Lil says
Quick and easy bath paint: Shaving cream and food coloring or fingerpaint. 🙂 It not only doesn't stain, it cleans. (Remember using shaving cream to clean your desk at school? Yeah.)
Adrienne says
Not only am I saving this in my favorites, but I stumbled this as well. Great recipe.
Adrienne says
Not only am I saving this in my favorites, but I stumbled this as well. Great recipe.
9to5to9 says
What's the only thing better than a cheap do-it-yourself project that replaces a pricey item?
A cheap do-it-yourself project that replaces a pricey item and I actually have all the stuff on hand to do it with. We're tackling this one tomorrow.
Thank you, thank you!
Tara: Have you tried Dove for Sensitive Skin? That's what the eczema crowd here uses. Neither Dove nor Ivory breaks us out, but Dove seems to be a bit softer.
Lil: Shaving cream to clean desks? Oh, the sheltered life I've lived.
9to5to9 says
What's the only thing better than a cheap do-it-yourself project that replaces a pricey item?A cheap do-it-yourself project that replaces a pricey item and I actually have all the stuff on hand to do it with. We're tackling this one tomorrow.Thank you, thank you!Tara: Have you tried Dove for Sensitive Skin? That's what the eczema crowd here uses. Neither Dove nor Ivory breaks us out, but Dove seems to be a bit softer.Lil: Shaving cream to clean desks? Oh, the sheltered life I've lived.
Sab says
that looks fun! Too bad youguys are all colorful now too ... actually, I find it kinda funny... in a cute way 🙂
Sab says
that looks fun! Too bad youguys are all colorful now too ... actually, I find it kinda funny... in a cute way 🙂
SarahHub says
I would have never guessed it would be so easy to make your own bath crayons! I am definitely trying this! Thanks for sharing!
SarahHub says
I would have never guessed it would be so easy to make your own bath crayons! I am definitely trying this! Thanks for sharing!
Betty says
Oh no I can't believe you were stained!
Betty says
Oh no I can't believe you were stained!
Jess @ NBP says
Easy enough recipe. 🙂 Those are really neat. Thanks for the link on Monday Round up.
just a observation, not sure if anyone else has noticed but your right sidebar has been pushed down below your post.. i also noticed that you have numbered comments, you may want to chance the size of the number in your template to make that side bar come back up.
Jess @ NBP says
Easy enough recipe. 🙂 Those are really neat. Thanks for the link on Monday Round up. just a observation, not sure if anyone else has noticed but your right sidebar has been pushed down below your post.. i also noticed that you have numbered comments, you may want to chance the size of the number in your template to make that side bar come back up.
Stephanie says
Thank you for your advice. We tried to make this with the 1 cup of soap; 1 cup of water and food coloring recipe! I ended up with a BIG mess! I have seen a few recipes now that say 1/4 cup, but I think your advice of adding it a little at a time is exactly what I needed to do! My son misses his crayons, and I thought we could make some more. Any suggestions for some scent free soap to grate?
FeelsLikeHomeBlog says
We use Dove soap. We use the one that's unscented and for sensitive skin.
Alissa Conover says
does the food coloring stain the skin? i know it does. but a good idea for the toddlers? to use the peroxide or lemon juice to remove after bathing, is it too much trouble?
FeelsLikeHomeBlog says
We haven't had trouble with the crayons staining Grace's skin. It all comes out in the bath water.
Alissa Conover says
Thanks! I ll try with my little guy!
Alissa Conover says
does the food coloring stain the skin? i know it does. but a good idea for the toddlers? to use the peroxide or lemon juice to remove after bathing, is it too much trouble?
FeelsLikeHomeBlog says
We haven't had trouble with the crayons staining Grace's skin. It all comes out in the bath water.
Alissa Conover says
Thanks! I ll try with my little guy!
Shari says
For anyone concerned about using food coloring, I found a set of colors (intended for soap-making etc) that is specifically for bath products at my craft store. They were pretty inexpensive too! 🙂
Kelly says
I Can't wait to try these! I think I am going to put them in flower molds for the girls I nanny! Thanks for the recipe!
Michelle says
I noticed in the picture above the child is using crayola bath crayons, did the homemade ones go inside those??
Tara Ziegmont says
No, I hadn't thought of trying that.
Crystal says
Instead of grating your soap you can microwave the soap for a few minutes.. It makes a big soap " cloud" you just break up after it cools down. Be careful It will be very hot coming out of the microwave !! My son loves playing with it!
Maygenn says
My nephew and I just made these! He LOVES them! We put them into a star ice cube mold (because it is what we had on hand) and now are waiting for them to dry! My sister-in-law is going to be so happy when she finds out..because now he cant wait for bath time (which is usually a struggle with him). I can't wiat for my little ones to get big enough to do things like this with me! Thanks so much for posting!
Donna fuhrer says
I am definitely going to make these. I think these are great homemade Christmas gifts! I also found silly putty. Too cute. :@)
Rachel says
I saw someone commented that they used the dyes specifically for making colored soap. I had bought some but have yet to try it out. Did it work? I don't want to waste it if it didn't.
Tara Ziegmont says
I haven't tried them, sorry.
steph says
Tried this and they turned out crumbly. Did I not add enough water? What's the consistency of the dough supposed to be like (i.e. Peanut butter, playdough, cookie dough...)
THX!!