Now that X is a bit older (he just turned a year old!), he's getting much better about not tasting paint. I still don't trust him with "real" paint, but I am worried less about using artificial dyes. If your little one is small enough that they're likely to be eating a bit of whatever paint you're using, I'd still recommend our Homemade Edible Paint made with Natural Dyes.
While natural dyes are pretty in their own right, I do enjoy the vibrancy of artificial coloring in paints.
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While natural dyes are pretty in their own right, I do enjoy the vibrancy of artificial coloring in paints.
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I'd had the idea to have X play in yogurt since it's so silky smooth - but then thought, hey, why not make it into paint? I know a lot of bloggers use Kool Aid 
and for so long I'd resisted because I somehow thought it had sugar already in it? I hate that sticky sugar feeling. But I was totally wrong - Kool Aid powder has no added sugar! And the smells - ohhhhh yum!!!
and for so long I'd resisted because I somehow thought it had sugar already in it? I hate that sticky sugar feeling. But I was totally wrong - Kool Aid powder has no added sugar! And the smells - ohhhhh yum!!!
Because I did want to discourage X from tasting, and as I mentioned, I really dislike sticky sugar residue, I bought plain yogurt. Most brands of plain yogurt are unsweetened altogether, and are quite tart. Though edible, it was a great teaching paint since the flavor really was not one you'd like to taste more than once! I used small cups to measure out about two big spoonfuls of yogurt and I added 1/2 to a whole packet of Kool Aid, depending on the color (I needed very little red and orange, for instance).
depending on the color (I needed very little red and orange, for instance).
If your baby has a dairy allergy, or has not yet been introduced to dairy, you can use any kind of yogurt you'd like - rice, soy, coconut milk - they all work! If you can't find Kool Aid or don't want something scented, just add a drop or two of food coloring and stir well. You will still have beautiful edible fingerpaint!
For whatever reason our local Safeway didn't have any green Kool Aid, so I mixed half a packet of the yellow Lemonade and the blue Blue Raspberry and made my own green!
The paints were so pretty! The colors were nice and vibrant and the yogurt was so smooth and glossy. X was SUPER excited to dive right in!
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I love this photo because it catches his "ooh!" face. Whenever he finds something new and exciting, he makes this face while exclaiming "ooh! ooh!" - it always makes me and S laugh!
Here he is feeling the texture of the paint between his fingers. Unfortunately, I'd made the mistake of using yogurt straight from the refrigerator, so it was quite cold! X was a little hesitant to really get in there because of the temperature. It wasn't the warmest day either. Whoops! Unless it's already summer-y where you are, I'd recommend letting the yogurt get a bit closer to room temperature before using it (you don't want to leave it out SO long that it spoils, but 10-15 minutes would have made it a bit less chilly for poor baby X!)
He really loved watching the paint drip off of his fingers on to the paper.
Since X loves to try to eat regular paper, when I paint with him I use poster board and tape the edges down. This helps him focus on painting instead of being distracted by the paper.
He also loved making finger tracks through the paints. This was definitely the most "painting" he's done yet! I can't wait until he's a bit older and it really clicks for him. :)
More finger dragging. It was really cool how the yogurt paint made tracks - and I loved watching the colors swirl as he mixed them with his hand.
One happy, messy little painter! As you might have guessed if you read my post on Managing Messy Play, there's a hidden splat mat under that sheet. :)
What a beautiful baby masterpiece!
After I finished taking pictures, I showed him how to use his feet to swirl and smear the paint further. We also painted his feet and legs a bit more and he experimented with his whole hand and made a handprint.
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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.
This is such a cool idea!! My little one is only 3mo but as soon as he's able, I want him to play with colors like this!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diana! Yes - so fun to have a beautiful rainbowed baby at the end! :) In the meantime, once your little one is old enough to sit up, you could always give our natural dye paint recipe a try (http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2013/02/homemade-edible-paint-infant-s-started.html)! The colors aren't quite as vibrant, but the pink/orange/yellow/green were at least bright!
DeleteFirst of all, can you come over and take all my pictures for me? Yours always look beyond gorgeous! :) Secondly, this is an awesome idea! I've already pinned it to try with a baby and a toddler I watch after preschool. Even my kindergartner son would love it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteAh, you are too sweet, Mary Catherine. It is a combo of a wall of windows for natural light, adorable models (you've got this part covered), and the correct lens. The f 1.4/50mm lens cost as much as the camera (which is why it's my only lens!), but is so worth it for the pretty factor!!!!
DeleteAnd yes! Please do try it. The smells and colors were AMAZING. And not too expensive, either - so a total win all around. Feel free to post about it, too, I'm sure I'm not the first person to think up the combo! :)
This is awesome. We are so doing this. I was going to mix yogurt with food coloring but kook-aid sounds even better :) Thanks for sharing. Pinning!
ReplyDeleteYay! Thank you, Jennifer! I feel like I always manage to spill/stain with food coloring. Not that I didn't spill some of the Kool Aid powder on our counter (maybe I am just really clumsy?!), but I feel like it was easier than using food coloring. And the SMELL!!! So amazing! Feel free to post about it if you want! I am sure your photos would make it look even more lovely! :)
DeleteDoes the kool aid stain skin?
DeleteWe found that the red and purple left a faint mark until after a bath. I suspect if you made them more of a pastel color, it wouldn't show at all. The yogurt helps keep it from staining a lot. :)
DeleteDoes Koolaid have aspartame in it?
ReplyDeleteHi Dee,
DeleteI just checked - and the packets we used (just regular Kool Aid, so far as I know) do not list aspartame as an ingredient. Hope that helps! :)
This is so much fun!! Kingston basically painted his entire high chair with yogurt yesterday which got me thinking! Such a fun coincidence. We will definitely have to try this! We generally use regular fingerpaint because he isn't much of a "paint-taster!" haha But i love this concept. Plus, the colors look great!
ReplyDeleteHi Blayne! Thanks! Yes, yogurt is a great medium and makes a super cool paint! I, for one, appreciated how lovely our house smelled afterwards. YUM! I love the smell of Kool Aid, hahaha!
DeleteDo these and the Homemade Edible Paints actually dry like real paint? Or is it just for them to play with?
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Helen! In my experience all edible paints do not dry/preserve as well as store bought paints. This one in particular I wouldn't even try to keep because of the milk product spoiling (the smell would be BAD I'm pretty sure). We did dry out our kids' art that was made with these edible paints:
Deletehttp://www.funathomewithkids.com/2013/02/homemade-edible-paint-infant-s-started.html
and it dried really well, though it's still not as vibrant as store bought paint. Hope that helps! :)
Thank you. Looking forward to giving them a go!
DeleteThanks for sharing. Can I ask you, do these wash off the baby's skin?
ReplyDeleteYes, they do! We did notice some residual staining with the red - it was faint and washed off with a second bath that evening. Since we have had the same experience with reds/purples with storebought paint and fingerpaint it didn't worry me too much. It also washed out of all of the material it came in contact with - but we put everything in the wash immediately afterwards. Hope that helps! :)
DeleteGreat idea - this would be great for older kids, too. They could experiment with color mixing, adding materials for texture. To go over the top - add cookie crumbles, tiny pieces of fruit.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth! Yes, my older daughter loves them because they smell so delicious! I love your ideas for mixing it up with color mixing and adding texture! :)
DeleteAWWWWW what a cute little baby <33333
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! :)
DeleteThank you for the awesome idea, Asia! We tried this out with food coloring last week and I just blogged about it. I was sure to link back to this post and give your blog a shout-out. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://pinspiredhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/yogurt-paint-toddler-tested-mom-approved.html
Your blog is a great resource - you have me inspired to try more messy projects with my little guy!
So fun! Thanks for giving it a try and sharing the fun photos! I also enjoyed the contact paper window art your little guy made. Thanks so much for the shout-out as well! I so appreciate it!!! :)
DeleteThank you! I cant wait to try this. I have just ordered some Kool aid as we dont easily get it in Australia. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! I hope you love it as much as we do, Amanda! Kool Aid smells sooooo yummy!
DeleteGreat idea and beautiful lo! Maybe you can laminate painting straight after, that will keep smell away, but don't know if it will go funny colour afterwards. Xxx Angie.
ReplyDeleteOooh, definitely something to try, Angie! I hadn't thought of that!
DeleteLove this! My kiddos still use yogurt to paint (even though they are technically supposed to be eating it, LOL) at age 2.5. Thanks for linking up to Discover & Explore this week!
ReplyDeleteWell I can't totally blame them - yogurt is a pretty cool painting texture!
DeleteYou have a very cute baby! and I am definitely going to try this out with my niece which is 8 months now and loves feeling things so she is probably going to love it!
ReplyDeleteAw, thank you! Oh I bet she will! It's such a fun texture and the colors are so bright! :)
DeleteThis is wonderful, Asia. I often have people ask me how early they can introduce their little ones to art. This is a perfect one to recommend, and proof that you really can't start too early!
ReplyDeleteAw, thank you Jackie! And totally - babies LOVE to explore! :)
DeleteWon't kool-aid dye the skin though?
ReplyDeleteWe have noticed the red and purple leave a color after clean-up - but after 1-2 handwashings or a bath, we don't see it anymore. I hope that helps! (And for reference, we experience the same thing with most washable storebought paints - I think it's just that the red/purple/black pigments stick around for some reason)
DeleteSuper fun idea! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Candi!!!!
DeleteOdd question! But.... Since this is yogurt does this dry so i can hang my little mans paintings?
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried it. Not totally sure. Part of me thinks you'll be fine, and part of me worries it will mold or smell strange. Worth a try maybe? Let me know if it is keepable!!!
DeleteI love this idea. My son likes to get his paints out in the bathtub and paint the walls. I might try yogurt and food coloring next time he asks.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mandy! :)
Deletehello there!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of this paint and going to try it as soon as baby arrives in July ( maybe a bit older ahahahaha!). On the subject of staining, I think pure wool or any animal fibre is susceptible to staining. I am saying this because I was looking for a cool way to dye yarn and Koolaid works really well and absorbs colours. So, no wool when painting! :)
Oh good to know! I think it wasn't any trouble for us because the Kool Aid was diluted in the yogurt? But it's probably still wise to stay away from wool while using it just in case! Thank you for the tip!
DeleteThis stuff could work out quite well for facepaint too, actually, as you don't gotta worry about it affecting the skin in any way.
ReplyDeleteVery true, though I'd suggest using a small amount of Kool Aid (aim for pastel colors) because we did have some brief (a few hours) skin staining with the red and purple. :)
DeleteWhat a lot of fun your little guy is having, we tried yoghurt painting in the high chair when our youngest was a bit smaller, she is 17 months now and still eats paint, though we haven't used yoghurt in a while, might go back to the idea. thanks for the reminder of this, will do lots of colours this time, I just did one colour when she was younger. she LOVES painting, mostly herself. have a good week and thanks for sharing. definitely going to give this another go and I wont need to worry about her eating it, Have never heard of Kool aid before, probably not available in New Zealand? but just gel colours or food colours should work...
ReplyDeleteThat is SO cute! And yep, Kool Aid is pretty hard to come by in New Zealand - it's a drink mix here in the US. Gel or regular food colors would work perfectly!
DeleteCan you keep the art they make? Or does it go bad/spoil? Stupid question? :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't try because I assumed it would spoil/smell....but I don't know for sure! Maybe if it was thin enough it wouldn't get gross? If you experiment and find an answer, let us know!
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ReplyDeleteThis is such a great idea! I am a contributor author on Satisfaction Through Christ and we are doing a back to school round up this week and we would like to feature this post on there! Please let me know if this is ok and if we could use the photo image in the article. Congratulations on being featured! The article will post this Thursday :)
Hi Raising Samuels! Thank you so much for asking! So long as you are using one photo and a link and not summarizing the post or providing the recipe, you are welcome to use one photo. Thank you! :)
DeleteNot a problem! Thank you for letting us use the image and congrats again on being featured :)
DeleteDo u think this will work with painting pumpkins???
ReplyDeleteFor fun or for a lasting paint job? Because yes I think it could be fun, but no I don't think it would look great. Finding good pumpkin paint is pretty hard - usually acrylic (not edible) paint works best. :/
DeleteHow did this hold up? Did you keep the art? Did it stay pretty? I feel like the yogurt would maybe mold lol.. But I'm curious!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried keeping the art, no. Not sure! If you try keeping it let us know how it works out!
Deletemaybe for keepable i substitute the yogurt for water and cornstarch or flour... hmmmmm but I LOVE the way yours looks!
DeleteI'm not sure there's any edible form of paint that wouldn't be susceptible to mold unfortunately.... :(
DeleteI want to try this with my 1 1/2 year old. Would you suggest using drawing paper or a white sheet to paint on?
ReplyDeleteOoh, good question. I'd say probably paper because the sheet can bunch up and cause frustration (in my experience). If you have access to poster board, that's my favorite (we buy it really cheap from either the grocery store, Michaels, or the Dollar Tree) because it's big and sturdy. Hope that helps!
DeleteSO much fun! I made fingerpaint with my kids and used pudding.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea!
DeleteI would caution anyone about using food coloring, because it can stain clothing. I would be cautious about the Kool-Aid as well. I suppose if the baby is in just a diaper or a smock it wouldn't be a problem!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is we've never had trouble with it staining. I've even wiped down our kids with a white towel after. Not sure if it's because of the yogurt, or if we just have a really good washing machine, but it's always come out easily. We just throw everything in to the wash right away and don't let it sit.
DeleteDo you know if you can get Blue kool aid? I tried making Blue with other colours but it didn't turn out very well! I love doing this with my little one. She turned into a rainbow- gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThey do! The blue we use is Blue Raspberry. I wonder if you can call around and find a store that has it? Around here none of the stores have green, but that's much easier to make by mixing than blue is!!!
DeleteWhat an adorable little guy! I have a 3 year old & a 10 month old, so this really caught my eye. They would have a BLAST with this! Thanks for the idea. :)
ReplyDeleteOh fun! Those are perfect ages for it!! :) :) :)
DeleteHello
ReplyDeleteI work with motor disabled children in the UK and <3 these things.... Love the obviously edible ones as I have a lot of oral children in my class, but the UK slime... mega hit, do keep these brilliant ideas going. You've helped me make my sessions the best!
Becca
Hooray! So glad to hear it. And thank you for all of your work with the kiddos, Becca! <3
DeleteDo you have a picture of finished product? Like the painting after its dried... I am a preschool teacher and am curious to try this in my classroom (:
ReplyDeleteI didn't keep it because I was worried it would spoil. If you want keepable art, I suspect your best bet is to use washable tempera.
DeleteI love this idea and have always wanted to try activities like this with my little one, but how do you keep the little one from getting up and taking off running across your carpet with red paint on his feet?
ReplyDeleteThank you Marissa! I discuss it more in-depth in my first book (150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids), but basically a lot of repetition enforcing that we stay on the mat until we're done - and if we leave the art project is over. It only took a few weeks for my daughter to learn, but longer for my son. :) Though it takes a little work on your part, once they learn that leaving the mat means they're done, they tend to stick with it, so it's time well spent. :)
DeleteThank you for blogging this FABULOUS, AWESOME, FANTASTICAL idea for edible fingerpaints. My incorrigible, inexhaustible 10 month old is ready to explore colors and textures. He also has a dairy allergy...and I prefer organic products. Man. I'm so excited that I found this. Thank you sooooooo much!
ReplyDeleteAwesome!! I'm so glad to hear it. I hope he has a lot of fun painting -- he sounds like he's got plenty of energy to throw into creating a masterpiece!!! :) :) :)
DeleteGreat idea! My 21 month old grandson actually loves plain yogurt and eats it by the spoonful :)
ReplyDeleteSo healthy! My kids won't touch it unless it has fruit added. :)
DeleteHow do I keep the picture from going mouldy if its done with yogurt?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it will or not. We used this for play and not for permanent art. If you want to try to keep it, I suggest using this recipe: http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2015/05/taste-safe-no-cook-paint-for-art-you.html
DeleteWhat gorgeous pictures. I am guessing he is about 4 and a half now. Beautiful baby. And fabulous idea using yoghurt. I must pas this on to friends with babies.
ReplyDeleteHe is!!! And thank you! <3
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