Now that Oscar is definitely living the good life of a toddler, I am charged with keeping him entertained and learning, which is no small feat as we now spend 95% of our time at home I’m always on the lookout for fun ideas that are simple to put together but encourage him to explore and learn. Enter edible finger paint!
My biggest issue at the moment is that Oscar is still very much a ‘taste-everything’ kind of kid, so if he touches it with his hands I can almost guarantee he will also put it in his mouth. This means not only do I have to watch him like a hawk, but I also have to ensure all the activities I do with him are taste-safe, or entirely food based.
When I came across this simple edible finger paint idea, I knew straight away it would be a massive hit with Oscar as a sensory activity. Even though it is technically ‘finger paint’ I wasn’t planning on actually getting any artwork out of this experience, but instead just wanted Oscar to have an invitation to explore a cool new sensory experience using simple household items.
What can I say? It was a hit!
Toddler-Safe Edible Finger Paint Recipe
This recipe for taste-safe edible finger paint could not be easier. All you will need is plain yoghurt (either natural or greek) and some food colouring.
Spoon the yoghurt out into several small bowls, with a few tablespoons in each bowl, and add the desired food colouring. I used a drop or less to make my colours.
Mix until the colour is fully incorporated and then spoon the yoghurt onto or into a container that is easily accessible for your child. I used the TROFAST tubs which fit into my ikea FLISAT table, but you could also use a muffin pan, baking sheet, plastic tub or even bathtub. In my case I left one side of my FLISAT table top on and tried to encourage Oscar to ‘paint’ on the white top, but as you can see from the pictures he was much more interested in touching the ‘paint’ and then eating it.
This can quickly become quite messy as your little person gets covered in coloured yoghurt and decides to go and explore, so I would recommend setting it up somewhere that is easy to clean. I set this activity up outside on our little deck so I could just hose everything off when we were finished.
Depending on the age of your child you might like to provide them with utensils or paintbrushes to explore the finger paint. Oscar is not quite 14 months so I knew he would prefer using just his fingers/hands, so I didn’t worry about giving him anything.
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