Bath Paints

Do you ever have those days (hours, weeks) when bath time is essential to everyone's sanity and survival? This was one of those days. Julia is getting her top molars and has no patience for life... at all. At the top of that "life" list would be her brother and he is apparently a glutton for punishment because he just keeps going back for more.

Does this look like a face you want to mess with? She's ready to bite the doll's head off- and she likes the doll!
I was running out of loving, compassionate words for the day so a bath was definitely in order. In a moment of mommy inspiration I remembered a recipe I had seen online for bath paints and decided to give it a try.

Stop, stop, stop. Now before you roll your eyes and think, "okay, maybe you, but not me!" This is insanely easy! Stir together 1/2 c. dish soap (use a pure and gentle formula) and 4T cornstarch. Divide into little cups and add one drop of food coloring to each and stir. I used empty applesauce containers (I keep a stack in my cabinet for art projects.) or a muffin pan works, too.

Then let them loose to paint the bathtub with paintbrushes (or fingers work great, too) :)They had an absolute blast and got along smashingly for 30 whole minutes!! The cool part is it then makes bubbles in your bathtub (which is a big treat in our house because we don't use bubble bath). Another 15 min of peaceful play :)
The homemade paints worked better than any bath art products we've used so far and they come off SO easily. AND being made of soap they are also cleaning your tub- YAY! Next we moved on to coloring- we are fans of Crayola bathtub crayons. We have some cheap craft foam books to color, though you could make your own with a piece of craft foam. (If you want, draw a coloring picture on it with Sharpie markers.)
And apparently our remedy worked because they were back to being buddies after bath.....
Water works wonders (especially if it contains colored bubbles!).