Just like sweeping or cooking, it's simply an activity that children see the adults around them doing - parents, teachers/caregivers, in books, or on TV.

Young children are naturally curious and they typically want to mimic the behaviour they see the adults around them performing.

So if your child is showing an interest in either make up or nail polish, rather than shutting it down, consider one of the alternative activities below:

5 Activities For Children That are Interested in Nail Polish and Makeup

1. Create Nail Art - trace both of your child's hands on a piece of paper and draw the nails. We have a printable with the hand and nails already drawn if you want to skip this step.

Add crayons, markers or paint to decorate their nails with. To really replicate the experience of painting your nails, I would recommend offering paints and small brushes. You could also add small stickers, glitter, etc.

To make this activity reusable, put the printable inside a larger ziplock bag or laminate it. For an added fun step, include some cotton balls with a little bowl of water so they can remove the "paint" and start again.

2. Makeup Art - draw a face on a piece of paper. Add crayons, markers or paint to use as "makeup" on the face.

We also have a collection of printable faces that you can print, if you want to skip the drawing step. Included in the link are 12 different faces, all with different hair and skin tones.

3. Face Paint - You could allow your child to experiment with make up by using face paint. This one could get a little messy but could be fun for kids who are curious.

The benefit of using face paint, and not your own make up (even if it's clean or organic), is that it avoids setting the expectation that they can play with your make up.

4. Play Nail Salon - there are non-toxic, child-safe nail polishes on the market that you can use to play nail salon with at home. Piggy Paints is a popular brand.

Paint your child’s nails or let them paint yours! I would only recommend this for older preschoolers or children you are confident won't want to eat it. Even though it's non-toxic, it's still not safe for consumption.

5. Reuse old makeup containers for pretend play - makeup containers appeal to children because they are typically quite small and they tend to enjoy opening and closing them.

If you wear make up, save old containers and add them to a basket in your child’s playroom (be mindful of your child’s age and any small parts). Add a non-breakable mirror and they can pretend to do their makeup or yours without the mess.