Children love to get dirty. They do not care if it is mud, whipped cream, finger paints or spaghetti sauce. These create the best photo opportunities and sometimes a bit of the best memories a child will have.
The hands on experience gained during messy play helps your children experience a variety of textures and tastes, if they so desire. During messy play, they are developing eye hand coordination and fine motor skills. What looks like a mess on their clothing and their bodies is truly a learning experience for your child.
As parents, we should make sure the things covering their face, hands and any other exposed skin is safe. Many paints contain toxic materials like toluene which can produce adverse effects in the kidneys and reproductive as well as ethylene glycol which can be associated with developmental toxicity.
Do you really want these chemicals covering your child’s face and/or in their mouth?
How about making your own finger paints? There are many recipes out there, though I find this one to be the most versatile for colors.
Homemade Finger Paints
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 packets of powdered drink mix (like Kool-aid)
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 3 tablespoons of oil
- 3 cups of boiling water
Directions:
- Mix together you dry ingredients in a bowl (drink mix, flour and salt).
- Stir in the oil.
- Slowly mix in the boiling water and allow the mixture to cool.
You can store these in old baby food jars and in the fridge and reuse them over and over, even making and mixing new colors for endless hours of fun.
This is a guest post by Suzanne Bastien.
