Imagine stepping into a completely different world, filled with gigantic walls, tall furniture, and a variety of colours. Everything is unfamiliar, fascinating, and waiting to be explored. This is exactly how a toddler experiences the world around them. For us, it’s just a table, but for them, it’s a brown table with legs, textures, and endless possibilities to discover. At this stage, exploration is crucial, and it’s important not to refrain from their natural curiosity. Watching toddlers navigate this colourful journey is a delightful and often messy adventure. Their little hands dive into paints, creating spontaneous and imaginative drawings that reflect their growing minds. But with toddlers, surprises are always around the corner—like their irresistible urge to taste the paint!
This common behaviour, though concerning for parents, is a natural part of their exploration. In this blog, we’ll delve into why toddlers feel tempted to eat paint and share tips to help parents ensure their little ones enjoy a safe and creative experience.

Why Kids Urge to Eat Paint?
Toddlers explore the world primarily through their senses, with touch and taste playing a crucial role in their learning process. Their mouths are filled with sensory nerve endings from the trigeminal nerve, one of their most sensitive areas for sensory input. This is why they often put objects in their mouths to explore textures, tastes, and shapes. Bright, vibrant colours and smooth textures make items even more tempting to investigate. Since they can’t distinguish between edible and non-edible items, this behaviour is completely normal and an essential part of their early development, helping them understand the world around them.

Supervise Painting Activities
While giving your little ones colours, supervising is also very important. Watching their actions allows you to carefully distract them if they try to eat the paint. Supervision also ensures that they stay focused on creating using the paint as a colouring product rather than exploring it with their mouths.

Paint is for Creating, Not Tasting!
Toddlers are quick learners when they are instructed in a simpler and clearer manner. But while explaining them rules there is one thing you should remember toddlers often struggle to understand “No” as they’re in a phase where their cognitive skills are still developing. Hence instead of focusing on saying “no”, try to communicate it with action, or saying that “colours are for drawing”, this can help children grasp the message more effectively. Consistently repeating the message also helps toddlers understand the use of paints. And do not scold your kid always try to explain them positively.

Designated Painting Area
In our homes we have a proper place for everything for instance we have a proper space for a bedroom, sitting area, and Dining area so why not a Painting area too? And it shouldn’t have to be a separate room, you can also make a small Painting area like a Creative Space in a small corner or a cupboard where toddlers will have a Dabble Fingerpaint, or Dabble Crayons and art roll to explore. This way toddlers will understand that in this designated area they are allowed to explore and paint only and no place for munching.

Using Creative Distractions
Sometimes toddlers put things in their mouths out of boredom or habit. In such cases distract them with something else like reading them gently removing the colours and making random stories out of them, appreciating their art or having open-ended conversations. You can also try different activities like stamping or sponge painting etc.

Prioritize toddlers’ safety with Non-Toxic paints
Being a parent it's not possible to sit with your child every time they are using paint. Hence it is very important to choose the right paint for your child’s safety. Using non-toxic paint for children is essential, hence Dabble. Dabble Playart is one of the safest alternatives that are made with non-toxic natural ingredients that won't harm your toddler even if they accidentally put some in their mouth. Although ultimately these are colours and are not edible (don’t encourage it), at least it gives a sense of peace as these are designed keeping toddlers in mind.

Takeaway
Introducing your toddler to painting is a wonderful way to expose them to creativity and curiosity. By understanding their behaviour, monitoring them closely, and creating a safe and engaging environment, you can ensure they enjoy the process of art without any risks. With non-toxic paints like Dabble Playart and a little guidance, art time can be both safe and magical. A little patience and creativity go a long way in making these moments memorable!