Crappy weather = Homemade finger paints

Now that the weather has gotten too cold to sit in the sand box for an hour at a time, 'tis the season to explore indoor activities that can keep my curious tot occupied for more than 10 minutes. He loves rifling through the paper recycling, crawling after the cats, and pulling all of his books off of the shelf, but sometimes he needs a novel activity.



I found this recipe on Easie Peasie for homemade finger paints, and it works. It's a simple mixture of corn starch, sugar, salt, water, and food coloring, so if a little makes it into the mouth, no harm done. I've also had a lot of fun mixing my own colors. But the recipe makes a lot, and because it gives no instructions for storage, I put it in the fridge (of course, the safest place to store food-based items), where the cornstarch/water mix congealed. The next time we wanted to paint, I had to slowly heat the mixture back up in a sauce pan, adding water to smooth it out. It worked, but the texture still wasn't quite as paint-like as I had hoped. In the future, I plan to make the recipe shortly before we use it, and I'll experiment with storing the paint at room temperature to see if it makes a difference. Next week, we try this recipe from Momtastic (although this recipe uses the word edible, I think the blogger really means "safe to ingest by accident.")

We tried finger painting once this past summer, figuring my son could paint outside in just his diaper (just hose 'em down after), but he was too young to understand it. He understood markers alright, but not finger paints. I broke out the recipe again last week, and the experience was tearful to say the least, but that was my fault. I sat him in his high chair in the dining room (the easiest to clean), but he was confused by the bowls of pretty colored glop that he wasn't supposed to eat.

But then I had a great idea, if I may say so myself: let him go nuts on the sliding glass doors on the porch. I spread the floor in front of the doors with newspaper, put him in his adorable little apron, and set the bowls down. Oh, my goodness, did we have fun. There were just as many of my hand prints on the glass as his. Granted, it took a little elbow grease to get the paint off the glass, but I'm sure it's easier if you don't let it sit for two weeks.

But then there was the issue of the stained clothes. My sister informed me that food coloring requires an acid base to set into fabric. So, as long as you don't add vinegar or lemon juice (why would you?), you're all set. I rinsed everything in the sink to get the majority of paint off before throwing it in the laundry, and I'm happy to report that nary a spot of food coloring remains. 

I got another fun indoor activity idea from my friend Cheryl, who threw the most organized Halloween party I could ever imagine. After photos and story time, the kids got to play in under-bed storage containers partially filled with dry oatmeal (aka, an indoor sandbox). Other variations of this include dried rice and dried beans (but beans are fun to stick up the nose, so be careful). Another mama friend of mine filled her Pack-N-Play with ball-pit balls for a Chuck-E-Cheese-like experience at home.

I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open for other fun indoor activities to do with one-and-a-half-year-olds as the weather gets colder and crappier.