A 4-ingredient recipe for taste-safe finger paint with vibrant colors. These dry nicely so you can keep your little ones artwork for years to come!

For Valentines, I friend and I got together and helped our little guys make some adorable artwork (check out our adventures here!). The crafts were fun, but the one thing the boys kept wanting to do was put their paint covered fingers in their mouths. We moms had to spend the whole time watching out for their paint-eating tendencies. 

I determined to figure out an taste-safe finger paint recipe before we crafted with the little dudes again. I tried several from Pinterest, but I haven’t been impressed with their consistency – many are clumpy or too thick. The yogurt paints work nicely, but they don’t dry, so you can’t keep your kiddo’s art work. 

Anyway, I played around during naptime and came up with this recipe. It’s the perfect consistency (just like real paint!) and takes color really well. It dries in about a half and hour and stays vibrant, making it perfect for kiddie projects. Watch out Saint Patrick’s Day! We’re gonna paint something green!

What are the ingredients in Taste-Safe Finger Paint?

Start with a few basic household ingredients:

• All-purpose bleached flour
  • Other wheat flour types will work for this, but bleached white flour gives you the best, lightest base so that your colors can be more vibrant. This also means that these paints are NOT gluten-free. I have never tried doing this with any gluten-free flours, but if you give it a shot, leave us a comment and let us know how it went!
• Water
• Salt
• Food coloring:
  • With my kids, I use Wilton gel colors*. They’re cheap, easily available, and they give a vibrant color that doesn’t fade when dry. The downside? Wilton gels stain — both clothing and skin. Unfortunately, so do the liquid food coloring drops. Be aware if you decide to use either of these options.
  • When I’m worried about staining, I use these Natural Liquid Food Colors*. They come in all the colors of the rainbow, are skin and taste safe, and do not stain clothes or skin. The only downside is that they cost a bit more and are harder to get ahold of.

*Disclosure: this is an affiliate link. If you purchase something from this link, I will receive a portion of the profit. However, all opinions and recommendations are my own. I will only ever recommend something I love!

How do I store Taste-Safe Finger Paint?

In an airtight container. Baby food jars are great for this, but anything with a tight-fitting lid will work. These plastic condiment cups* are just the perfect size!

You’ll want to wait for the paint to cool to room temperature before you put the lid on in order to avoid condensation that might mess with the color and consistency of the paint.

This paint can be stored for up to 1 week in an airtight container at room temperature. The ingredients may separate, but you can stir them back together just fine!

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Edible Finger Paint

Four ingredients gives you the perfect finger paints!

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• ½ cup flour
• 1 cup water
• ¼ tsp salt
• food coloring or water colors
• cold water for thinning

Instructions

• Combine flour, salt, and 1 cup water in sauce pan.
• Heat flour/water while whisking. The mixture will be clumpy, then smooth, then thicken into a paste.
• Once it has become thick and pasty, remove from heat.
• Whisk in cold water a few tablespoons at a time until desired consistency is reached.
• Color with food coloring or water colors.
• Allow to cool completely, then paint!

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