Swirl, drip, squiggle, smudge, fling, splatter… What is better then finger paint? Edible baby-safe finger paint you can make at home with this simple recipe! Six month old baby Austin created his first abstract expressionistic masterpiece! Here’s how we did it.
To make the paint mix equal parts baby rice cereal and water. Then add one drop food coloring. Add more drops of the same color to richen it or mix other colors to get your desired color. Add white to make it lighter and more opaque. We chose the colors of Austin’s nursery; red, white and shades of teal. The white really didn’t work that well in the painting. The teals were vibrant! We decided not to use the red in case it mixed together with the teals to create brown. The red would have been nice to use after the first layer dried but I was so impressed with Austin’s first go at it I left it alone sprayed it with a fixative and hung it up. An additional option that I thought would be fun is adding a flavor of some sort. I was a little concerned about encouraging him to eat paint so I left it out this time.
We choose a 10×10 inch pre-stretched canvas with a neutral color for Austin to paint on. Watercolor paper would be a great option as well! Avoid any thin paper that will bubble or rip when wet.
If you have older children they will know what to do but if you have a baby at three months you can set them up in a tummy-time manner and set the painting in front of them. Austin at six months sat up and I helped him dip his hands in each color. I also held him, dipped his feet in and let him kick around on the canvas. It sure was entertaining helping my Blooming Jackson Pollock create his first finger painting. However, when it was all said and done Austin may have preferred the brewer game that was on over finger painting… Daddy’s boy 😉
Jena
- Infant Rice Cereal
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Fixative
- *Amounts very per project, desired color, and consistency.
- To make the paint mix equal parts baby rice cereal and water. Then add one drop food coloring. Add more drops of the same color to richen it or mix other colors to get your desired color. Add white to make it lighter and more opaque.
- When dry spray with fixative. Hang!
Such a fun idea!