In this post Kylie of Octavia & Vicky shares 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 a bit of messy play around here, any excuse to get stuck into some squishy, squelchy, ooey, gooey stuff. While we love it, we don’t do is as often as we used to, now that there are two kids to play (and make mess) and one of those kids is ‘King of Chaos’ Rocky (20 months). Rocky somehow manages to take mess to a whole other level. It’s ‘X-Treme Mess Making’ and most days I’m just not up for that challenge! When we do get into it I find I’m so busy trying to contain the little whirlwind of chaos that is my youngest child 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, for when I was feeling more energetic. 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, saved up from glittery experiments for Christmas parties and Pebble’s birthday cake. Perfect! I whipped up a batch of edible finger paint, sprinkled it with the edible glitter and stood back to let Pebble have her way with it.

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. Here’s the edible glitter finger paint recipe for you to try too.

Edible Glitter Finger Paint

You will need:

• 4 Tablespoons of corn flour/starch
• Cold water
• 1 Cup of boiling water
• Liquid food colouring 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 and add a different food colouring to each bowl, stirring to combine until completely coloured.
4. Sprinkle with edible glitter before playing.

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

Do you like messy play at your house?