I’ve had these powdered finger paints in my craft cabinet for quite some time, and finally decided it was time to give them a try!

The paints from Wee Can Too are gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan, and conform to non-toxic standards i.e. they are edible if your child decides to take an experimental lick. This actually isn’t a worry of mine. as Travis just doesn’t put things near his mouth that aren’t food, but it’s nice to know in case a future son or daughter isn’t the same.

When Travis was still eating jarred baby food, we had lots of fun dolloping spoonfuls on his tray each meal to trace shapes and letters. But we haven’t bought a can of pureed food in months now, and I missed our little mealtime educational exploration, hence why I broke out the edible finger paint at last.

When breakfast was over, I told Travis we weren’t getting up quite yet, and squirted a little of each of 4 colors on his tray.

In a fully honest product review, the paints are very uneven in texture. The first tube I tried didn’t have enough water and was so thick and gloppy I had to throw it away. On my next try I added much more water, but the paints were too runny, hence not great for tracing. The mixture I achieved with purple came the closest.

Still, you can’t go wrong with some good old-fashioned messy finger painting! Travis liked mixing the colors and making ovals (his favorite shape thus far).

You’ll definitely smell the turmeric used to color the orange and yellow paints, and it will stain a little (as turmeric is wont to do), but it’s nothing a good scrubbing with soap and water can’t remove.

Overall, I’d use the paints again, especially with a child who seems inclined to eat paint, as they felt very natural and safe.

Ever wish you could let your toddler paint without the mess?

I imagine we’ve all raised our hands! So this method is for you. Zip-top bags are actually how I introduced Travis to paints, around 15 months old; squirt a few different paint colors into large zip-top bags and seal. Let your child smoosh the paints around with their fingers, experiment with drawing shapes, or discover what happens when two or more colors run together. The game is particularly nice with colored construction paper under the bag, so that moving a line of paint reveals a line of colored paper underneath.

Today, I upped the ante, with Travis nearing his second birthday. Our “theme” of the week this week was the sun, and I wanted a fine motor painting activity, but wasn’t in the mood for a mess.

I cut out two suns, one white and one orange, and placed in zip-top bags.

I then added a few globs of yellow paint and sealed the bags shut.

Now it’s up to your little one! Provide him or her with anything that rolls (old-fashioned clothespins worked great), and teach them to spread the paint around by rolling.

Travis got the idea, but I had to help him spread/roll far enough for the paint to reach the edges. I also was low on yellow paint, so our sun received a bit of orange decoration!

Once it dried, we hung the sun in the window, a nice pretend glow on a dreary, rainy day.