Reginald Fox Makes Paint from Garden Vegetables 🥕
Reginald's garden on the Hazel Village map
One sunny morning, Reginald Fox was watering his garden and admiring the spring vegetables when he had an idea. "I wonder if I could use these beautifully colored veggies to make some nice paint for my friend Jeremy Owl?" Reginald decided to try. Follow along and make your own!
What you will need:
- Fruits and/or veggies
- Powdered sugar
- A strainer
- Basic kitchenware
Reginald chose raspberries, carrots, spinach, and red cabbage. (Full disclosure: some of these fruits & veggies aren’t yet in season, so we’re not sure how Reginald got his paws on them. Maybe he had some stored from last year. Anyway, we bought ours at the grocery store.)
When choosing your fruits and veggies, we recommend experimenting with what you have at home - this would be a perfect craft to make use of some food scraps! And since this paint is edible, it would be a great project for little ones who like to put everything in their mouths. We don’t recommend making more than you plan to use for your artwork though, since it will not be shelf stable. Also, it's pretty sticky.
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First, boil a kettle of water. We also recommend sifting your powdered sugar to minimize lumps. IMPORTANT: if you yourself are a kid, make sure to ask an adult for help with boiling water and chopping things!
To make your produce paint, there are basically just two simple methods: one for fruits, and one for vegetables. We listed how we made each paint color below. We're also including the measurements we used, but exact measurements aren't too important here.
Raspberries for red!
Place 6 raspberries in a strainer over a jar, and thoroughly smush with the back of a spoon to get out as much juice as possible. Mix the juice with 6 teaspoons of powdered sugar.
Carrots for orange!
Grate 1/2 cup of carrot. Pour some water over it, and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Strain the carrot liquid into another bowl, pressing the grated carrot with the back of a spoon. Mix 1-2 teaspoons of the carrot liquid with 6 teaspoons of powdered sugar.
Spinach for green!
Finely chop about a cup of raw spinach. Pour the water over it, then let sit for 5-10 minutes. Strain the liquid into another bowl, pressing the chopped spinach with the back of a spoon. Mix 1-2 teaspoons of the spinach liquid with 6 teaspoons of powdered sugar.
Red cabbage for purple!
Finely chop about a cup of red cabbage. Pour some water over it, then let sit for 5-10 minutes. Strain the liquid into another bowl, pressing the chopped cabbage with the back of a spoon. Mix 1-2 teaspoons of the cabbage liquid with 6 teaspoons of powdered sugar.
TIP: When you pour water over your chopped veggies, only use a little bit. We tried to pour just enough that we could see the water line, but not so much that the veggies started to float. If you add too much water, the color will be less concentrated.
Reginald found some empty jars in his cupboard and poured the garden paint into them for storage. Then he packed them up in his picnic basket, and carried it to Jeremy's house.
Jeremy was thrilled. "What a thoughtful present!" he said. "I will paint with these right away."
Reginald felt wonderful as he scampered back to his own house. Jeremy did indeed set up his easel right away. After considering the colors he had to work with, he decided to paint a meadow at sunset. "When I finish this piece," Jeremy said to himself, "I think I will give it to Reginald."
Did you make this craft at home? Send us a photo or tag us on social media @hazelvillage! For any questions, please email us at hello@hazelvillage.com.
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