The Flour Finger Painting Experience

One day a week I have just infants so on these days I try to expose them to some type of exploratory or messy project that I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing with them when I have other children to focus on as well.

Today was finger painting! Finger painting is always a really fun activity for the kids and a great sensory project for the infants! I try to use different types of finger paint so that the infants (and kids) get to experiment with different textures.

Now let me preface this by saying this is a MESSY project, so if you prefer thing to be neat and tidy back way from this post!! 🙂

I try to make the finger paint that the infant’s use something that is ok to be swallowed, because inevitably 3/4 of it will end up in the mouth with the bunch that I have. I know all the tempera and finger paints say non-toxic but currently I prefer to make my own. Applesauce finger painting can be found here.

For this activity I made this flour finger paint recipe while the babies napped, although I did omit the salt. I will say that for one cup of flour it made a bit more than I expected. I also wasn’t sure if the color was supposed to be added during the cooking process or after. I’ve heard mixed reviews from provider friends about it staining skin if its not put in during the cooking process and this didn’t specifically say so I ended up adding some red to it while it cooked just in case, but once I saw how much it made I ended separating it and made a purple and orange with the food coloring. It didn’t stain either way so I assume adding it after it’s been cooked is fine as well, worked for us anyways.

Now for the messy part! I did a lot of preparation for this so that once we were done I could hit the tub and everything would be streamlined. I laid down a blanket (I usually use a shower curtain liner but I had just tossed my last one), made sure I had wipes and towels close by, and got the tub ready with towels, diapers, and clothes all laid out.

I’ve very glad I had the tub ready to go!

This was a hit with my infants. They thought it was so much fun the rub it all over and splatter it on the paper. Some of it did get tasted but not as much as I expected, I’m guessing it didn’t taste that great so one taste was enough for them! They had a great time.

I let the sheet of paper dry and hung it on the wall. Be aware that if you’re left with areas with but clumps of paint, they take forever to dry. 24 hours later and some of the clumps of paint the girls had rubbed together were still not dry so make sure you have somewhere that you can put it to dry for awhile.