Natural Dyes for Kids: Make Nature Paint!
- Erin and Out
- Mar 31, 2023
- 3 min read
Table of Contents
Why do I like natural dyes? They take the noise of craft paint and throw it straight out the window.
Student art pieces created with paint sourced straight from nature. Love the addition of the flowers, Sydney!
The backyard is suddenly new and unfamiliar. Paint that doesn't ask for money but to simply be found hides in plain sight: the red dirt, the green grass, the purple berries. The kitchen comes alive with the scents and sounds of the earth as you crumble leaves, break rocks, and steep flowers to discover the colors within. The canvas becomes a reflection of your home as your brush glides across the paper, bringing with it the life found just outside your window.
Natural dyes are a fun, free way to explore and create with the world around you. Because natural dyes skip the toxins that accompany store-bought paint, they're a top-rated medium for kids. Learn how to make your own natural dyes with these instructions!
Step 1: Gather your Ingredients
Our world is full of color! Take a step outside and see what ingredients you can find in your backyard. A few ideas to get you started are below.
Natural Dye Guide:
o Flower petals
o Dandelions
o Blueberries
o Raspberries
o Charcoal
o Soil
o Moss
o Grass clippings
o Fresh tree leaves
o Seed husks
Additional Materials
o Watercolor paper
o Paintbrushes
o Warm water to add to paint
o Clean egg carton to hold paint
Look Around! What else, not on the list, do you think you could extract color from?
One student grabbed a pine cone and used it as a brown crayon. How clever!
Step 2 : Prepare your Dyes
On a hard surface, crush your materials. Items like berries, charcoal and seeds can be crushed easily.
Transfer crushed materials to an egg carton. Add a few drops of water to each ingredient. Stir well.
Some items, like flower petals and leaves, are better off whole. I like to hold these items in my hand and use them as natural crayons!
Step 3: Choose your Binder
A binder helps your pigment stick to the canvas. You can buy a binder from the craft store or make one with the ingredients in your kitchen. Each binder causes your dye to act and look differently on paper, so feel free to experiment and pick your favorite. A few that I've tried are:
Gum Arabic: easy to build layers and dries matte.
Cornstarch & Flour Mix: picks up the most grains for textured paint. Dries matte.
Honey: easy to control the paint and leaves a glossy finish. Also leaves the pigment sticky to the touch.
Whichever binder you go with, add a 2:1 dye-to-binder ratio.
Honey is my go-to binder to use if I'm painting with kids. I usually have it lying around and can throw it in with the rest of my supplies.
Step 4: Pick a Canvas
The heavier the paper, the better! This will help make your colors pop and will allow you to build layers of pigment as you go. I recommend watercolor paper or cardstock- but you can also try different canvases and watch how the dyes react. Below you'll find the same image done once on cardstock (left) and once on watercolor paper (right).
Left: Natural dyes on cardstock paper | Right: Natural dyes on watercolor paper
Step 5: Create!
It's time to make your next one-of-a-kind masterpiece! Let your artwork dry overnight.
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