DIY Kid-Friendly Paint Recipe

I have a little sensory boy who puts everything in his mouth, except food. (Go figure, right?) When I decided to attempt painting with him for the first time, I knew I'd have to come up with something that would be safe for him to swallow. I found a lot of DIY recipes online that had to be cooked, and my 2yo (and myself) doesn't have the patience for that, so I improvised. Here's my super easy, "recipe" for kid-friendly paint:

Materials:

• flour

• water

• food coloring 

• vegetable oil (optional)

• salt (optional)

• I used half-pint jars, but you could also use cups or a muffin tin for mixing/storing the paint.

Directions:

• Pour 1/4 cup flour into each container. 

• Add 6-8 drops of food coloring to the flour in each container to get your desired colors.

• One at a time, slowly add water to the flour and mix until you get your desired consistency. (Hint: To paint with fingers, make the mixture thicker - almost like pudding. To paint with a brush, add a bit more water and thin the paint out.) 

• If you'd like a bit more gloss to the finish of your paint, add 1/2 tsp of vegetable oil (I used olive) to each color. 

• If you aren't going to use all the paint in one sitting, you can add about 1/2 tsp of salt to the color and store in the fridge. I would think this could keep for quite some time, but this was my first batch, so I'll have to let you know later! :)

• Enjoy!

I didn't have any trouble with cleaning the food coloring off my buddy...and he had it everywhere!