Bath paint is so quick and easy to make, and it keeps little ones entertained for long periods of time. The best part is that the mess is all contained!

How to make bath paint that FIZZES! It entertains little ones for long periods of time and then washes clean down the drain.

Color Surprise Bath Paints

We love making our own paint, especially erupting paint. These fizzing bath paints were inspired by our color surprise eruptions and this color surprise fizzing paint from Mess for Less. While being stuck indoors during a storm I knew that a new bath paint recipe would occupy my boys for a good hour, leaving me free to tidy my room. (We did this activity in my bathroom, so I was close by and supervising the entire time.)

Homemade FIZZING bath paint recipe - Perfect play idea for days when the weather keeps you stuck inside.

How to Make Color Surprise Fizzing Bath Paint

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Supplies:

Color surprise bath paint recipes that fizzes right before your eyes!

Directions: To make our color surprise bath paints I added color tabs to each container. I combined colored tabs to make secondary colors. Our colors were not vibrant enough initially, so I recommend the following: 2 of each primary color to make red, yellow, and blue paint. 1 red and 1 blue to make purple, 1 blue and 1 yellow to make green, and 1 yellow and 1 red to make orange. The fizzy tablets we buy come in multiple sizes. I used the big tablets. The little tablets could also be used, but I would use 3 little tablets in place of 1 big tablet.

Next I added a squirt of baby shampoo. I didn't measure, but I would guess that I used about a tablespoon. The baby shampoo makes the paint spread easier. It will also produce foamier eruptions as we discovered when we made giant foaming eruptions without vinegar. If you don't have baby shampoo on hand, any body safe soap will do including dish soap. Finally, I covered the fizzy tablets and shampoo with baking soda. Again, I didn't measure. I used enough to cover the color, so when the boys added vinegar the color was a surprise.

I didn't want the bath paints to be too runny, so I only filled up the squeezy bottles half way with vinegar. I gave the boys the vinegar, and they immediately squeezed the liquid into the bowls.

After they oohed and ahhed at the bubbling eruptions and the colors that peeked through, they reached for the paint brushes to stir up the paint mixture.

Color mixing erupting bath paint recipe - creative indoor fun

The bins with the secondary colors were the most fun, because we got to watch the colors mix and blend together as they bubbled and popped. The advantage to using fizzy tabs for the color is that they bubble even longer as the color dissolves. Of course food color or liquid watercolors, or really any color could be used in place of the fizzy tabs.

The boys painted for a long time before we turned on the water. Like most water play, this quickly turned into a color mixing activity. Of course, the idea to do color mixing with fizzy tabs came from Fun at Home with Kids. There are so many fun ways to play with these! When they were done painting and mixing the water we turned on the shower, and they all got clean. JZ (7) even rinsed all of the paint brushes and containers for me.