How to remove paint stains from children’s clothes

Everyday is a new journey to children. At the age below 6-7 years old, kids explore the world with all of their senses and one of the first things they learn is colors. Painting not only helps children recognize colors but also reflect their view of colors of surrounding things like the grounds, grass, sky,… 

So there is a high chance your kids will come back from school with paint stains on their clothes. If you are looking for a solution for this problem, keep reading and this article may help you. 

Identify paint base

There are two types of paint base: 

• Acrylic or water-based paint: easy to remove, dissolve in water. These types of paint are mostly used at school and daycare. 
• Oil-based paint: difficult to remove. However, this type is not very common.

You can check the label of the paint container to identify if it’s water-based paint or oil-based paint.

How to get water-based paint or acrylic out of children’s clothes

You will need to prepare some tools and supplies:

• Spoon/brush
• Warm water
• Detergent
• Paper towel/sponge

Step 1. Scrape the excess paint

Firstly, use a spoon or brush to scrape off excess paint as much as you can.

Step 2. Rinse the stain with warm water

This prevents the paint from drying out.

Step 3. Hand wash with detergent

Before this step, you should put detergent on a small spot of the clothes to make sure the detergent will not ruin the fabric or bleach the color.

After that, make a mixture of detergent and warm water with 1:1 ratio and directly apply this mixture on the paint stain with a paper towel or sponge. Rinse and repeat this step until the paint stains are dissapear.

Step 4. Wash as usual

Finally, the last step is to put it in the washing machine as usual.

How to get oil-based paint or acrylic out of children’s clothes

The oil-based paint is much more harder to remove than the water-based paint so you will need more supplies and tools to remove it:

• Spoon/brush
• Warm water
• Paint thinner
• Dish soap
• Paper towel/sponge
• Pre-wash stain remove

Step 1. Scrape off the excess paint

Firstly, scrape off the excess paint with a brush or spoon.

Step 2. Rinse the stain with warm water

Removing oil-based paint will get even harder if it dries and hardens. You should prevent this by rinsing it with warm water. If it’s already hardened, you might want to use a hard tool to break up the paint.

Step 3. Apply paint thinner on the stain

Use a clean sponge or paper towel to apply paint thinner on the stain. The paint thinner will slowly remove the paint from the clothes. When the paper towel or sponge takes up too much paint and becomes dirty, make sure to replace it with a clean one so it will not transfer the paint to other parts of the clothes.

Step 4. Apply dish soap

If the paint thinner is not able to remove all the paint stain, you should rub dish soap into the stain. After that, soak it overnight.

Step 5. Apply prewash stain remover

If the stain still remains, use a prewash stain remover. Don’t forget to read the product manual.

Step 6. Wash as usual

Finally, put it in a washing machine and wash it as usual.

More tips for paint stain remover

• Prevent the paint dries by any ways you can
• Don’t put the clothes in the washing machine before treating the stains. The excess paint will transfer to other parts. If the clothes are already washed and dried, the stain will be impossible to remove.
• Always check care labels of clothes before apply any chemical.