Honey I Turned Our Kid Blue!

Today I decided to actually make finger paints, and for some reason I already had all the necessary supplies on hand. So Isabell and I set to work rounding up our supplies, and following the recipe I have here on my blog. Now, when I say Isabell set to work, what  I really mean is that she ran around the house screaming like a maniac because she didn’t get an adequate nap today. The recipe itself is actually pretty easy and quick to follow, I’d wager that without a maddened toddler running between your legs you could complete the task in under 10 minutes.

                                                                                Step One: Gather your supplies

                                                    Step Two: Mix sugar (1/4) cup and cornstarch (1/2 cup) together

                                                                           Step Three: Add 2 Cups water

Step Four: Pour into sauce-pan and heat for five minutes on medium, stirring occasionally with whisk until desired consistency

Step Six: Add food coloring (if yours are this dark you used to much food coloring!)

Step Seven: Turn your kid into an easter egg!

No, really!  20 minutes into finger painting my dear sweet hubby came over and noticed that the dye was also clinging to our toddler’s skin, hair, diaper, teeth, nails etc. EEK! I ran to the tub to run her bath water, while he quickly removed anything paint like from her reach. We rendezvoused in the bathroom after about 4 minutes and began the scrubbing. Luckily for us the baby soap removed the dye from her hair, but her skin was still as multicolored as ever. Jordan then got the great idea of Googling what removes food dye, and low and behold, we also happened to have baking soda which we began rubbing into her skin. After a good 10 or 12 minutes of scrubbing we finally got her cleaned up.

The moral of the story? Ummm, the most popular finger paint recipe on planet earth is designed to turn my kid into an easter egg? No, that can’t be it! The moral of the story,  Which I only discovered after making yet another trip to Google land, is that you need very little food coloring. That is unless you want to dye your child and everything they touch rainbow color (“full on double rainbow....”). I’ve learned that just enough dye to give the paint a LITTLE color should suffice (it will darken as it dries), otherwise you better hope to have a box of baking soda waiting. 

Subsequently I’ve also been struck with another idea since finger paints are so messy, and that is to make bath paints. It’s the same recipe, you just bring it in the bath with them and let them paint the walls and tub, then just rinse and wipe it all down the drain when done. Presto, fun and squeaky clean!