I wanted to get store bought snow paint for 3yo, but I know food coloring in a spray bottle may do the same thing. But I am not sure about staining hands, coats, snow pants, etc. Has anyone tried either of these...or anything else? Any help would be great! Thanks!
I have stained my hands with food coloring - red especially -, so I woudl think it woudl be a bad idea.
Food coloring definitely stains anything it touches. Every time I color dough by kneading in food coloring I have colored palms for a couple of days.
Every time i used food coloring with my preschoolers, I always let their parents know to send them in "grubbies" beforehand. Yep, stains a lot!
It's been a while but someone posted on here that they let their child do this. When their back was turned the child sprayed their white vinyl siding so they were looking for remedies. With that being said, I don't think this is something I would take a chance on.
When i saw your title i was going to suggest just using a packet of Kool Aid and mixing it with water instead of using food coloring, But i'm sure that would stain just as much. spray bottles can be hard for kids that age, too. probably why we haven't tried it.
Are you looking for something that lasts or just temporary fun? One year my brother and I decided to spray our snowman with water that was heavily colored with green food coloring to make it look like an alien. The spray just went into the snow and couldn't be seen for longer than a few minutes.
We use watercolor paints out of a bottle (check at craft or art stores).
I've used food coloring to color home-made play-doh and I have never had it end up coloring my hands after kneading it together - but the food coloring is added to the boiling water/oil mixture before it gets mixed with the flour/salt mixture, so maybe it's more diluted out. Maybe if the food coloring is mixed with enough water, it won't stain as much. You only need a very little amount in a big bottle of water to still get bright colors.
