Paint with Veggies!

We all know that colourful fruits and vegetables are good for us – but what if we told you they can also be used to make paint? Especially the bright ones like beetroot, which contain natural compounds called pigments that can create beautiful colours.

In this activity, you’ll use heat and water to turn leftover food scraps into your very own watercolour paints to create masterpieces!

Reducing food waste and making the most of leftover food is a great way to be kind to the planet.

So, follow these instructions to be part scientist, part artist and full-time eco-warrior! 

Before we get started, let's make some guesses about what might happen. Scientists like to make predictions, or hypotheses, before they do experiments. It helps them figure out what to expect and why things happen the way they do.

Have a go at making your best guess using the questions below:

1. Which food scrap do you think is going to make the brightest coloured paint?
2. Do you think the paint will be as bright as store-bought paint? Why or why not?

Tīmata! Let’s get started! 

• Food scraps - Parakai
• Saucepan - Hōpane
• Wooden spoon - Koko rākau
• Measuring jug - Ipu ine-kītanga
• Water - Wai
• Sieve - Hītari
• Ice cube tray / small jars or containers (to make and store the individual colours)
• Art supplies (i.e., paint brushes and some paper)

Caution - adult supervision needed for little scientists when dealing with boiling water 

Let's begin!

1. For each individual vegetable, pop the scraps into a saucepan and add water – enough so that at least half of the scraps are covered.
2. Boil for about 5-10 minutes, using a wooden spoon to squish and mash the vegetables.
3. Using the sieve, carefully strain each vegetable mix into a measuring jug and leave to cool.
4. Once cool, pour your vegetable paint into your containers
5. Use your art supplies to get creative!

Extra for Experts!

• Want to experiment further? Try making paint using colourful spices like turmeric, paprika, or even cocoa powder!
• Compare your vegetable paints with store bought watercolour paints. Which ones are brighter? What are three differences between the two paint types?

1. What did you smell when you were boiling the food scraps?
2. Did the colours look different when they were first painted compared to after the paint had dried?
   

The science of pigments: 

A pigment is a natural colour found in the cells of plants, animals, and even people. Pigments are what give us different eye colours, make leaves green, and turn flowers into all sorts of amazing colours.

But how do they do this? Pigments work by absorbing (soaking in) some colours of light and reflecting (bouncing off) others. The colours we see are the ones that bounce back to our eyes!

A long time ago, people discovered they could use pigments from nature to make paint, dye clothes, and decorate objects — and we’re still doing it today!

These days, we can make pigments in labs or factories, but we can still find colour all around us in nature (like in colourful food scraps!)