DIY edible finger paints (aka finger painting failure)

courtney, from (she always loved) larking, wrote about making your own fingerpaints. i was inspired to try fingerpaints with ramona and max, who have recently shown a bit of interest in coloring and making marks and scribbling.

so during their nap time, i whipped up some edible finger paint in the kitchen (i used the finger paint recipe that courtney referenced). it was easy!

or so i thought. the babes, who usually sleep an hour and a half (maybe two) for their morning nap, ended up sleeping nearly three hours. by then, the fingerpaint i had made had gelled a little bit and was not very paint-like. still, i took the two little ones outdoors where some craft paper had been laid out and stripped them down to their skivvies. however, max wanted nothing to do with this paint and ended up toddling over to the goats. ramona showed a little bit more interest but didn’t seem to get the whole point of “painting with fingers.” instead she wiped it around on her belly and then proceeded to freak out when i wiped some on her arms. she, too, toddled away to the goats.

it’s not the paint’s fault (though i wish we could have had a chance to play with it sooner before it turned to gel), or the recipe’s fault, or my fault, or the toddlers’ fault. they just would rather play w goats and frolic in the yard than smear colorful cornstarch on paper. we’ll try some artistic action again later but i think, until they show a little bit more sustained interest, i’m going to stick with the simple stuff i don’t have to make, like crayons.