Experimenting and Introducing Food Grade Paints to Children: A Case Study on Putrajaya Precint 9(2) Pre-school for Special Children

Juhanita Jiman & Ling Siew Woei

Multimedia University,

Cyberjaya, MALAYSIA

Introduction

Art nurtures healthy social interactions and well-being culture in the society.

Color can stimulate thinking, feeling and evoke emotion.

Art lessons have greater roles in special children education, they give them freedom and room to express themselves and be creative.

Harmful Ingredients

Four main ingredients for paints are: binder, pigment, solvent and filler.

All four main ingredients of these store-bought paints mostly have synthetic substances. Most of these synthetic ingredients contain VOCs.

A Johns Hopkins University study found that more than 300 toxic chemicals and 150 carcinogens may be present in paint.

Danger of VOC

These children are exposed to harmful synthetic dyes and paints during art classes. The VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) that is found in common store bought paints have significant vapor pressures that can affect the environment and human health.

Special needs children have greater risk compared to normal children due to their weak immune system.

Understanding children with special needs

These children may have physical disabilities, speech problems, other developmental delays, or have difficulty communicating and interacting with their surroundings.

These special children may have specific needs based on what they are capable or not capable of, therefore, understanding their basic needs is crucial in helping them to cope with their learning environment.

Special needs children deserve to be treated equally. They need extra love and care to go through their challenging life.

Focus of the paper

This study was to find out ways to produce safe, fun, cheap and environmentally friendly (green)paints to be used by children especially special needs children. Investigations and experiments was carried out on edible organic materials to create the base of the paints and finding suitable color pigments.

Understanding ‘green’ and safe organic paints

A safer choice is making home made paints from natural ingredients.

Paint is not easy to make but it can be an enjoyable task. Planning is essential and need a lot of room for experimentations.

Recipes, ingredients, and proportions have to be written down in detailed record so the paints can be replicated

Proportions of ingredients are the most important; an incorrect ratio may reduce the ability to adhere to a surface, durability, and quality.

The Olden Days Paint Substitutes

Traditional egg tempera recipe

Traditionally, egg tempera can be used inside or outside and can last for over 20 years. This paint dries in about an hour to a glossy finish. Customary egg tempera consists of egg yolk, boiled linseed oil, water, and pigment.

Egg tempera is a luminous, semi-translucent paint that dries quickly. To avoid mold and bacterial growth on the painting, only sterile water is used to mix with the paint.

Old recipe

Methods for egg tempera base•Separate an egg, leaving the membrane around the yolk intact. •Discard the white and remove the remaining egg white by gently wash the yolk under lukewarm water, or carefully pat with a paper towel. •Hold the intact yolk over a glass or ceramic container, and puncture the membrane to let the liquid out. Discard the membrane. •Stir this egg yolk with a whisker or a fork. Add 2 tablespoons water plus 1/3 teaspoon white household vinegar to two parts of yolk, and stir again. The slight acidity of the diluted vinegar helps to emulsify the egg yolk and extends the life of the paint.

Egg Tempera Painting Demo by Alex Garcia

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=453992

The old-style pigments

Colors and pigments follow a symbolic and artistic progression from dark and "earthy" for base colors to "spiritual" or "heavenly" for final layers.

Base layers are more coarsely ground, darker and less expensive pigments.

The most beautiful, costly, and finely ground pigments are reserved for top floats and finishing touches.

Blue was particularly rare and precious, used selectively for the most exalted subjects. Gold leaf is typically used for subdued and subtle icon colors.　　

Some pigments are taken from rocks and ground into natural red and brown ochre. There are also other pigments such as the iridescent white that is made of ground seashells.

Experimental Egg Tempera base paint

Traditional egg tempera recipe has thinner consistency and it is translucent.

In history, a lot of tempera layers were needed to get desired effect and color.

For this experimental purpose, thicker and more opaque paint is needed for children to work more effectively.

The same basic egg yolk base ingredients are used to make an improvised version of egg tempera, one part plain flour is mixed to add extra consistency to the paint. Because of egg yolk has an unpleasant odor, grated lemon rind is added to add fresh scent to the paints.

Experimental Egg Tempera: The pigments

The pigments are taken mostly from plants and edible sources. The plants (mostly leaves) are processed and strained to get the juice. The juice is then boiled rapidly and left to evaporate leaving a thick almost powdery color paste.

However, after long experiments, the help of a very tiny drop of liquid food coloring is needed to get a dominant effect.

Experimental Egg: Yellow

Yellow is the easiest color to get because the base tempera itself is yellow. However, one part of turmeric and saffron powder is added to get a better and brighter color.

Experimental Egg: Red, Green, Purple

The pigments

Red is extracted from red spinach, hibiscus and mixed with paprika powder.

Green is derived from screwpine leaves (pandan) and a few different kinds of grass and leaves.

Purplish blue is taken from purple dragon fruit. This fruit has the strongest pigment.

The Experiment : Situation

Putrajaya Precint 9(2) Integration School was chosen because of its readiness for special needs pre-school education; being the only school in Putrajaya that has special needs children at pre-school level.

Special needs children from pre-school level are chosen to participate in this research because at this level, these special children are exposed to a lot of art activities as part of their therapy.

These special children were invited to have art lesson experimenting with the freshly made organic paints. Four basic colors were pre-mixed for the children to use. They are red, yellow, green and purplish blue.

The Art Activity: Warming Up session

Breaking up the silence with circle time.

After about half an hour of ice breaking session, we got their attention.

The Art Activity : Warming Up session

The children put on their loose adult's t-shirt as art aprons and they also covered their working table with canvas.

The Observation : The teachers

During the first few minutes of the activity, the children were quite nervous and not quite know what to do with the paints in the cute bottles.

The teachers had to help them poured the paints into homemade palette made out of empty egg containers. It was observed that the teachers are very creative by recycling used items to be used in art classes i.e. the egg containers palettes, old adult t-shirt as aprons and used cloths, fruits, vegetables and sponges as art tools.

The Observation cont…

This initial step was quite intense. They were probably shy and not used to being watched and observed. They finally got used to us and started to do their usual art lesson. They seemed to be very eager to use the paints. The children starting to loosen up, relaxed and looked more happy and enthusiastic.

These children were given an art block each. We briefly explained to the children that they basically can draw anything they want. They were encouraged to be as creative using the paint and materials provided.

The Observation cont…laying out paper

The children spent about an hour making and finishing their paintings.

We were amazed on how these children managed to employ all the methods they know to create their craft.

The Observation cont…self-expression

So how did they express themselves?

They used brushes, sponges, old dabbing clothes and even

their hands and fingers.

The Observation cont…laying out paper

Some of them even managed to finish more than one painting. They were very happy with their artworks.

enjoying the art activity

Beautiful results of brushes, sponges, old dabbing clothes, hands and fingers…

The teachers were extremely pleased with the results. According to them, these children were seen unusually enthusiastic and attentive to the class that day.

This is probably due to the new faces they were seeing or the cute bottles of paints that they were using.

The Observation cont…excitements

Interview report

A few children (who are able to talk) were casually interviewed and asked about their opinion on the art lesson that day and about the new paints that they used.

All of them positively said that they liked the paints especially the fresh scent of the paints. They could not describe about the lemon scent but they did notice that the paints smell good. They also said that the paints feel good to the touch and the colors were attractive.

Teachers interview

When the two teachers were interviewed, both of them agreed that these paints are seen more child-friendly and safer than the ordinary ‘non-toxic’ acrylic paints that they normally used.

According to them, the so-called ‘non-toxic’ paints that they usually used have some kind of unpleasant odor that was earlier explained as VOC. Even though the odor is not that strong, it is very much noticeable. They also believe that in a long term run, this odor will be hazardous to the children during prolong inhalation. These teachers were also commented, during their lessons using normal acrylic paints, these children were seen to lick their fingers. This is even more dangerous because the chemical base of the paints is non-edible and could cause health risks to these children.

Future research: Awareness and education

Unfortunately, organic and natural paints are quite new to the Malaysian society. The culture to ‘nurture the nature’ for better living is still an alien concept for most Malaysians. It is actually a big task to first educate the teachers and parents. There are some parents who are concerned about what materials their children are using at school, but due to lack of resources, their concerns are not taken any further.

Organic and natural paints available in the overseas market may not be the parents choice due to the hefty price, although they may have heard about the hazards normal paints may cause to their children. There is no known Malaysian store that sells these natural art products. Even in the global market, only very few stores are available selling this kind of materials. These stores are basically started by people who are concerned about the hazardous children art materials.

Clementine Arts is one of the examples of those people who started their business out of their concerns on children’s health risks. Because or there are only a handful of natural paints stores globally, the cost of natural and organic paints is really high.

Future research:

teachers and parents are too busy to make these paints themselves. These paints require tedious process and patience. It is seen that further research and investigations on organic natural art paints are beneficial for the society.

the method of producing the paints’ body or base materials and methods of preservation. It is seen that, to prolong shelf life with less effective natural preservatives, powdered paints are probably the answer. Thus, the research may include how can the powder be produced and later mixed into desired consistency. The solvent or solution to mix the paint should also be investigated.

get stronger color pigments from varieties of edible sources.

Future research: Preparing the paints

THANK YOU !juhanita@mmu.edu.my

Acknowledgement Photos courtesy of Ling Siew Woei

Special thanks to The Head Mistress of Putrajaya Precint 9(2) School (Pn. Hjh Khamisah Noor bt Md. Zin)

Two teachers from Pre-school for Special Children : (Puan Siti Nordiyana and Puan Normaliza)Special Children from Putrajaya Precint 9(2) School