Edible Finger Paint

I have wanted to try painting with Sophie for so long but as she is still quite young and everything ends up in her mouth I hadn’t braved it yet. So when Terrie from 'What Baby Did' linked her recipe for edible cornflour paint to the ‘#playathometuesdays linky I decided to give it a go. The aim was to create beautifully decorated pieces of paper that I could turn into an Easter egg garland. Well it was the equivalent of a ‘Pinterest fail!’ She is 6 months old. Everything goes in her mouth. What was I thinking?! It was fun though and I think she enjoyed the ‘sensory experience’ even if we did through everything away, get through a whole bag of wipes and both need a shower and an outfit change by the end!

If you are feeling brave (or stupid) and would like to have a go, here is what we did.

What you need: (Recipe from What Baby Did')

·         Approximately 7tbs of cornflour

·         Cold water to make a paste

·         Hot water from the kettle to get the desired consistency

·         Food colouring

                                                                                        

I put the cornflour into a bowl and mixed in the cold water to make a paste (I love how this feels!) Then I added some boiling water to thicken the mixture. I divided the mixture into three and added food colouring.

I poured the cornflour paint into an Easter egg shaped chocolate mould because I thought it would be cute and Eastery – it was just floppy and a recipe for disaster! As soon as I gave it to Sophie she just tipped the whole thing out onto her high chair table! I really shouldn’t have bothered separating and mixing colours.

I tried to encourage her to touch the paint and put some on paper but she is six months and had no idea what I wanted her to do! She preferred to spread it around with her hands. She was happy to do this for quite a while – I think she must have liked the texture. She didn’t put much in her mouth which is probably because it tasted disgusting. I did have a moment where I sat on the floor next to her and thought “What have I done?!?!” but we did manage to get cleaned up before Sophie’s dad got home! I would do this activity again but until she is a bit older I wouldn’t bother with the food colouring and maybe even sit her in an empty bath with it!

Have you tried painting with a baby? If you have older children, what age did you introduce things like paint brushes and sponges?