Edible Glitter Finger Paint: Awesome Sensory Art for Toddlers

A fabulously fun and festive sensory activity for those who don’t mind things getting a little messy – it’s Edible Glitter Finger Paint!

We love sensory play around here and we don’t mind a little mess! After all, who doesn’t love some squishy, squelchy, ooey, gooey play?

But while we love it, we don’t do is as often as we used to, now that there are two small people to play, and one of those is the ‘King of Chaos,’ Rocky, who is now 20 months. Rocky somehow manages to take mess to a whole new level and some days I’m just not up to the challenge. When we do try I find I’m so busy trying to contain the little whirlwind of chaos that I don’t allow for Pebble (4 years, 10 months) to enjoy the play as much as she might have.

That’s why I recently decided to set aside a whole Rocky nap time for messy play just for Pebble.

She had been asking to play with finger paint and she loves anything with glitter, so I thought about how I could put the two together. I wanted to save some paint for Rocky to play with later, but as he’s still at that stage where everything goes in his mouth I had to think about safety. Luckily, I had a pot of edible glitter in the back of the pantry which was just perfect for a batch of edible finger paint!

How to Make Edible Glitter Finger Paint

You will need:

• 4 Tablespoons of corn flour/starch
• Cold water
• 1 cup of boiling water
• Liquid food coloring in a range of colours
• Edible glitter (check out Amazon’s range or local specialty food stores)

To make:

1. Mix the corn flour with a little cold water, just enough to make a paste. I use a small whisk to make sure there are no lumps.
2. Pour in the boiling water and continue whisking until smooth, then place on a low heat on the stove until you see clear streaks in the mixture. Turn off the stove and continue stirring until you get a thick, gooey paint.
3. Divide your paint into small bowls, adding a different food coloring to each bowl and stirring to combine until completely colored.
4. Sprinkle with plenty of edible glitter and you are ready to play.

Note: You can save the paint in the fridge for about two weeks, just stir through a little hot water before use to bring it back to life.

And what a success it was! Pebble was singing and chatting to herself as she squished and smooshed the finger paint across the page. It was a delight to watch and she thoroughly enjoyed her solo messy play time.

For more sensory art explorations for toddlers and preschoolers, check out these related articles;