Fingerpaint Fun!

The teacher in me is always looking for new things to do with Cate that are "educational."  She gets read to a lot and Eric and I both enjoy getting down on the floor to play with her.  We take her to the zoo often and have even taken her to the art museum and Krohn Conservatory to look at the artwork and plants.  I completely realize that Cate will have no recollection of these things, but she seems to "enjoy" them and I do think that on some level, activities like this stimulate her brain.  Not to mention that the variety keeps mom and dad from getting bored.  

Yesterday in the doctor's office (Cate is officially 17 lbs. 4 oz and 26.5 inches long at her 6 month checkup), I was reading a short article about fingerpainting in Wondertime magazine.  While the standard Crayola non-toxic variety are great for toddlers and up, the article gave an alternative for those brave enough to try fingerpainting with babies- edible fingerpaints!  

Start out by mixing equal cups cold water and white flour (I mixed 1 cold water with 1 cup flour there's 1/4 cup of each in my four containers):

Next, add one or two drops of food coloring to your mixture:  

Then it's time to paint.  I tried a couple of different things....but always taped the paper to Cate's high chair tray...otherwise she'd eat it (believe me, opening the mail with her on your lap or reading a magazine is hard to accomplish since she loves to put paper in her mouth).  For the first couple of "paintings" I dipped Cate's hands into the paint and then let her bang them around on the paper.  For the others I poured the paint onto the paper and let Cate take care of the rest.  She seemed to enjoy the latter method better.

It was easy to clean up and Cate squealed and babbled while she ran her hands across her tray and the paper.  The result was some pretty cool artwork.  

~Melody :-)