Paint with vegetables

Besides avoiding solvent and chemical additive exposure, creating your own vegetable-based paint means opting for safe materials from renewable natural resources. Just some examples are onion peels, spinach leaves and beetroot.

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Pour the onion peels into a saucepan and add some water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Use a colander to sieve the mixture into a paint pot.

The colour may vary from yellow to brown, depending on your onion.


Use a pestle to crush around 15 spinach leaves in a mortar. Add a few drops of water and continue to grind until a fine paste is obtained. Use a colander or strainer to sieve the paste into a small paint pot by crushing to extract the juice (make sure that only the juice passes through the holes of the colander).


Grate the beetroot (fresh is preferred). Add a small amount of water (a tablespoon) and squeeze to extract the juice. Pour the mixture into a paint pot.

Don’t be afraid to involve your child in the preparation process (you can ask them to name the different ingredients and colours, and to make it even harder, get them to name the vegetables/colours in different languages). Then, when the paints are ready, let your little ones’ creative juices flow!