Suggestions for child-safe varnish for mud kitchen?

[sarahjaynex]

Hi

I am currently putting together a mud kitchen for my daughter, however i’m unsure what varnish to use on it. She is 2 so could potentially put her food on it or try to bite it. 

I have Cabot’s exterior clear satin water based from another project but not sure if it’s suitable for this. It will be in water a fair bit.

thank you

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi @sarahjaynex 

Great your  protecting you young ones so many things out there seam innocent and safe but can harm us if we turn a blind eye.

I dont think there are any   varnishes out there or paints that are designed to be eaten by children.  They all would have a chemical  formula  no human should eat.  But a little food on the varnish  (once varnish dried and washed acouple of times)  picked up and eaten is possibly not deamed harmfull But reality says some particals maybe  exchanged.

This is where the product data sheets come into play they specifically talk about material hazzards in different material situations, Normally they full of  doom and gloom.

So consider  plastic roll covering  your varnished  table in a kid safe  plastic until they grow out of messy eating age. as a tempory solution,

A second source of  information would be the poisons hot line they would  know if children are in any danger from such  materials.  Sorry I dont have there  ph no at  hand.

Keep  up the good watch.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @sarahjaynex. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about child-safe varnishes.

As you can imagine, this is a fairly important topic, and to give you a definitive answer, the Cabot's exterior clear can't be deemed 100% safe. General-purpose clear coats have some additives in them that shouldn't come in contact with food or be swallowed. You'd need a food-grade coating, but those are typically used on internal benchtops and unsuitable for exposure to the elements.

There is the option of painting with a water-based exterior like Dulux Weathershield. Once entirely cured, it is fine for food to be placed on it and doesn't pose a risk if the paint is chewed on and consumed. This is actually a question that comes up fairly regularly, especially around painting cots, and the Dulux technical team and chemists have investigated this extensively and provided the information that it is safe. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell