Homemade Edible Finger Paint is perfect for babies aged 6-18 months , toddlers and children who are more likely to place paint covered fingers into their mouths. It is also a great paint for their ‘first’ painting experiences when you are unsure if bub is going to try and consume the paint.
This Homemade Edible Paint Recipe is super easy to make and uses regular items found in the cupboard. It is safe for children to put into their mouths but bland and not tasty to discourage eating the paint. It is not a sweet or sticky paint and has a wonderful smooth texture….perfect for finger painting sensory play!
What you will need?
Ingredients
4 Tablespoons of corn flour (corn starch)
Cold water
1 Cup of boiling water
Liquid food colouring
Method:
I have played around with this method a few times and find this process the most successful for me in get a great consistency for the homemade paint.
- In a medium saucepan, mix the cornflour with enough cold water to make a paste. (Not too runny).
- Pour in 1 cup of boiling water and stir thoroughly so there are no lumps.
- Turn on medium heat on the stove and mix. The mixture will start to change and you will notice some clear streaks forming in the mixture. Once you see this, turn off the heat and continue stirring. It will start to thicken and turn into a wonderful, custard-like consistency.
- Spoon equal amounts into empty jars, cups or containers and add food colouring. Mixing until completely combined. For each colour, we added 3 drops of yellow, green, red and blue. To make orange, we added 1 drop of red and 2 yellow and to make purple, we added 1 drop of blue and 2 red.
- Store in the fridge covered with cling wrap for up to 2 weeks. This paint recipe does not have any preservative in it, so it is important to check that the paint has not expired before giving it to children.
Tip: If the mixture has harden from being in the fridge, adding a little bit of boiling hot water or leave the paint our for a few hours will return to its smooth consistency.
Let’s Play
One of the things I really love about this Homemade Finger Paint is that it washes out of clothes easily and is so easy to clean up.
Let’s Learn
This activity is great for babies, toddlers and children of all ages and abilities as it is open-ended and unstructured. It provides an opportunity to explore the paint safely and freely. Children will enjoy using their fingers to make marks with the paint in their own way.
Learning Opportunities
Homemade Edible Finger Paint encourages learning and development in a number of ways:
- Creativity and expression
- Fine Motor Skills
- Hand-Eye Coordination and Control
- Cause and Effect
- Concentration
- Language development
- Exploring the senses and discovering new textures
Looks so simple and what a great activity for bubbas. Thank you also for sharing that it’s super easy to wash out. So helpful. Thanks Janice! xo P
Sensory fun!
I am a day care mum the instructions were easy but maybe my cornflour is heavier needed more water.
but made 9 different colors and the kids loved it. I was still warm so the little ones loved to run their fingers through it. Will make it again. Great activity to promote imagination experiences, tactile sensation and so many more learning areas.
The colours look great, and good to know it washes out easily 🙂
We love this too! Especially good with a baby who wants to have a go.
Love it! Definitely making this soon with my kiddos.
This sounds like a must have recipe at home! Thank you for sharing! Pinned!
This looks like sooooo much fun and it’s easy to make too! This looks like an activity we might get stuck into tomorrow.
That looks like SO MUCH FUN! They will be so pleased they can lick their fingers
I just love using cornflour and it’s such a lovely sensory experience when still warm. I make some at the beginning of every week. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Tq sis, nice sharing..i will do for my kids 🙂
Help! I must hv done something wrong. My paint hardens when cooled and it’s more like a jelly than a smooth paint. What did i do wrong? Too little water? Insufficient cooking?
Hi Faith,
I am not sure what has happened here but when we made our paint, the mixture only required a little bit of cooking. The timing of it can be a bit tricky. Sorry, I am not much help…good luck!
I did the same thing! It was because I didn’t add enough cold water at the beginning. That made it even thicker which made it dry like jelly. It says not to make it too runny but I made it too thick trying to avoid that
What is the shelf life? I work in a daycare (2-3 years) and this would be great if I can make it at home the night before and then bring it to work for my class.
Hi Kristina, I have not needed to store the homemade finger paint, so I am unsure what to advise you. I have only ever made a enough for that day’s activity. I am sure you could store it in the fridge and add a little warm water to soften the paint when you would like to use it again.
Hi, I was just wondering where do you buy those food colouring? Thanks
Hi Kate, I purchase the food colouring from our local supermarket in the cooking isle with all the cake mixes. Hope this helps 🙂
Just made mine at the moment its like pva glue not paint have I done it wrong or just add more water??
The paint is generally a thicker consistency but if it is too thick, adding hot water should help thin it out a little. Good luck 🙂
I used your homemade paint recipe on our Thankful Tree since my 1 year old LOVES to eat paint and it worked like a charm! I linked back to you on my blog post. Here’s the website if you want to check it out: http://thenotsoboredhousewife.com/?p=1381 Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love this! definitely going to be useful for my child development activities and i hope my child will enjoy it 🙂
I love this! definitely going to be useful for my child development activities and i hope my child will enjoy it 🙂
Thanks Abbi 🙂
Does it stain hands
Hi Shannon, We had the smallest amount of colouring added to the paint and did not experience staining on the hands. Thanks.
Will this paint dry if the kids are painting pictures which you may want to keep.
How much paint does this recipe yield?
When my kids were small I made edible paint with vanilla instant pudding and colored it with vegetable based dye.
They loved it.
Love this idea. My recipe didnt come out so good, it was more jelly and chuncky but she still had fun. We painted pumpkins today. Not sure if the jelly well stick and stay on. It was still fun. My babies first paint experience.
Just made one myself. It turned out beautiful. I used small bags of corn flour and quite a lot of water. It was quite runny and cooked in a small fire stirred all the time until all mixed. Will see tomorrow when I played my toddler group . Will post again. Thank you for the recipe!
Awesome idea!! I’m wondering how it dry out on paper cards. Have you tried using this paint on cards yet?
This idea looks great. I’m just wondering does the food colouring stain the babies hands?
Hi Chloe, From my experience the food colouring did not stain the hands. I only added a very small amount of colouring to the paint. Thanks.
This was great! As a stay-at-home mom, I’m always thinking of or looking for something to do with my 20 month old. This was perfect since she’s never really used paints before. The one time that we did, she tried to eat it. This recipe is great for that! She tasted it and said, “yucky” and didn’t care to do it again. That will teach her to not eat it. Also, No big mess afterwards, we just did a simple wipe down. Thank you! We will do this regularly until she’s old enough to use other paints!