Easy edible finger paint

When you’re stuck at home with the kids, finger painting is always a winner. Especially in summer, you can strip the kids down and let them go wild.

For the littlies though, it’s always a battle keeping the paint out of their mouths. There are a number of ‘safe’ finger paints you can buy but they’re usually filled with preservatives and colours and you don’t really want your kids eating these nasties.

Besides, there’s a much easier way to hack kids finger paint – YOGHURT! Yes, just plain old white-as-anything Greek-style yoghurt. I prefer Greek-style as it is thicker and doesn’t tend to separate as easily when colour is added. It makes perfect easy edible finger paint!

You can add food colouring to get the colours you want, but there is a 100% natural way to colour paints too. Here are some colour ideas, but check out your pantry and spice rack and see what other ideas you come up with.

Red / pink

By far the best natural colour – beetroot. Boil or juice and slowly add a few teaspoons of the juice to reach desired colour.

Other options for red and pink are blended raspberries (strain if you wish) or simply squeeze the juice out of pomegranate.

Green

You can either juice or boil spinach for a wonderful green colour. If you are trying to get more greens into your kids, blanch then chop the spinach super fine and just add as is to the yoghurt.

The other option for green is chlorophyll, which can be bought in health food stores.

Yellow

Easiest colour by far – you just need to raid the spice rack. A tiny sprinkle of turmeric will give the yoghurt a beautiful yellow hue.

You can also try saffron, but that’s the much more expensive option.

Orange

Simply juice carrots and add a few teaspoons to the yoghurt to achieve desired colour. Don’t be tempted to use citrus as it doesn’t work well at all.

Blue / purple

There are no blue foods I hear you say!

Well, this is where the humble cabbage comes into it’s own. Chop and boil red cabbage until the water turns a rich, dark purple. You can use the liquid as is for purple finger paint.

If you’re after blue, cool the liquid, then stir in small amounts of baking soda, a bit at a time. A chemical reaction will turn the purple to blue.

You can also try blueberries or blackberries, blended down (strain if you wish).

Remember, yoghurt does eventually go ‘off’, but it will keep for long enough to keep the kids engaged for an afternoon. Use your judgement with this, especially in summer.

Have we missed any easy DIY colours? What are your favourite rainy day craft activities with your kids? Let us know below.