Messy Fun: DIY Edible Finger Paint for Babies

The last month or so Lilly has become extremely curious. About everything. She is not a fan of sitting still whatsoever and she’s pretty much learning faster than I can even begin to imagine. It’s crazy how much has changed. I mean, I know it’s inevitable, but it’s amazing to see with my own eyes. Well, I’ve been trying to come up with a lot of different fun, interactive, hands-on activities for her.

To be honest, Lilly gets bored really easily, so it’s a constant game of trial and error to see what she likes and what she doesn’t like. At the same time, I’m trying to find activities for her that are really tactile, if you will, to get her learning with her senses and experiencing new things. I have a dear friend whose son is in Montessori preschool, and I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from her and from Pinterest for Montessori-type activities.

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to do some finger painting with her because I knew it would be something she’d enjoy, but because she still eats ANYTHING that is put in front of her (seriously, anything. If you don’t want it to go in her mouth, don’t put it in front of her), I am hesitant to let her play with regular finger paint. So, I looked up a few different “recipes,” if you will, for edible finger paint that’s safe for babies to play with. I found a few different ones, but the easiest one I found that I could make with things I already had in my cabinet was just a can of sweetened condensed milk and food coloring.

So, I got out four little take and toss containers, poured in some sweetened condensed milk, a few drops of food coloring in each, mixed it up, and then we went outside because I knew this was going to get ridiculously messy. I put her on a tarp, gave her some spoons, and a little poster board and let her go to town.

If you decide to do this activity with your little one, be prepared for MESS. Like, a lot of mess. And sticky mess! I had a towel on-hand to wrap her in when it was time to go inside and I basically took her right to the bath. Also, since it is just condensed milk and food coloring, it’s so sticky so I don’t know that it will “dry,” per se. So, don’t plan on doing this and creating actual art. I did it more for the fun and the activity of it… not the end result.

Anyway, I took a BAJILLION pictures of the whole thing, so I thought I’d share some of Lilly’s messy fun (I had a REALLY hard time narrowing down all the cuteness):

She decided she just was going to pour it out on top of her… good plan.

Tasting along the way. Yummy paint!

She picked it up and just put it on her face. Hilarious.

“Stop taking my picture, Mom!”

So much fun!

The cutest paint butt I ever did see…

Too much cuteness. I can’t even stand it.

What about you? Have you done any edible finger paint activities with your little ones? Any “paint” recipes I should try? Any activities I should try with Lilly? I’d love to hear your suggestions!