All Natural, Edible Fall Fingerpaints

Full disclosure here: this project was a happy accident. You see, I love doing a wide variety of activities with my daughter: reading, dancing, playing the drums with pots and pans, etc. And so a couple of days ago, I got the brilliant idea in my head that we should paint together.

But J is in that phase where she sticks everything, and I mean everything, into her mouth. Things she has recently put in her mouth much to my chagrin: cat food, Scotch tape, an old Band-Aid… The list goes on and on. Anyhow, I knew that if we were going to paint together, I had to make sure that the paint was completely edible. And because I am me, it also had to be natural too.

So I was super excited then to see food coloring at my grocery store made from plants.

As you can see from the package, there is red, blue, yellow, and orange inside. Well, it turns out that the blue was more of a brownish gray, and the red was fairly muted too. I was super disappointed at first. I wanted my blue “blue,” and my red “red.” But by mixing the colors, I ended up creating a beautiful selection of fall hues.

Once all of the paints were made, J and I headed off to the bathroom. She had a great time sitting in the bathtub, painting the walls with her hands. And when we were finished, all I had to do was start the water and rinse it all away. Easy!

So to make your very own Fall all natural, edible fingerpaints, here is what you will need:

(I didn’t remember to take a picture of the water because that’s how on top of it I am.)

4 1/2 c. boiling water
2 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. unflavored gelatin
1 c. room-temperature water
Color Garden brand food coloring
Glass jars
Lids

In a bowl, mix together the cornstarch and gelatin. Using a whisk, add cold water to the mixture. You will end up with a crumbly paste. Slowly add the boiling water to the crumb mixture until you achieve the desired consistency. I wanted it to be a glue-like thickness. Separate the mixture evenly into glass jars. In each jar, add food coloring.

For dark brown, mix blue and red
For yellow, just the yellow packet
For orange, just the orange packet
For green, mix blue and yellow
For light brown, just the red packet

Store the paints in the fridge for up to one week.

I am excited to try this project again with a different brand of food coloring. You know, so that my blue can be “blue” and my red can be “red”, but I am glad J and I had some Fall-ish fun!

How about you? Have you ever made edible paints for your baby and how did it go?