While, Jeremy was away at camp last week, I wanted to do an art project with Owen. I thought it would be super cute to have Jeremy come into his office and find a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork made with love by his son. I had heard of moms doing finger-painting with their babies. I thought it would worth a shot. My original plan was buy finger-paint, but then I got trapped in a classic “mom” dilemma. Even if finger-paint is non-toxic, what would happen if Owen ate some? Would a responsible mom really let her baby be exposed to those chemicals even if they weren’t toxic? I got worried about killing my kid and judgement from other parents, so I looked for another option and decided to do edible finger-paint made at home with safe ingredients. After googling a couple recipes, I settled on one that was made with flour, sugar and water (because I had all of these ready on hand). I combined the ingredients and whisked them on the stove top until they thickened. I then poured the paint into different cups and used a variety of food colors. Of course, the paint needed to cool before use and I wasn’t planning on doing the paint project the same day I made the paint, so I threw it into the fridge thinking that would keep it from going bad (if that is possible? I don’t really know). The paint thickened up even more in the fridge. When I pulled it out the following day it was a lot like pudding with a skin on the top. Lucky for me, I stirred it up and it was perfect. I used paper plates to pour the paint on. I laid a blanket down on our kitchen floor and dipped Owen’s hands into the paint colors individually. Adding Owen to the mix created some drama in a project that was going smooth up to that point. It turns out that Owen didn’t want to play with the paint. He had no clue why I wanted him to put his hands on the paper. I envisioned him making a merry mess and creating multiple pieces of artwork. I got one page done. That was it. I was concerned that the food coloring would stain Owen and the blanket, but it remarkably came out of everything. Owen promptly got a bath and the blanket got washed. No harm done. While the painting project dried, I ran some errands and got Owen some of the Crayola first markers and crayons. I thought that might be more his pace in the art department. It turns out, Owen isn’t interested in making art at all. He wanted to lick the crayons and markers. Again, he had no idea why I wanted to mark up the paper. It just didn’t click. Oh well. I now have some art supplies for him when he gets a bit older. I also really enjoyed the process of making my own finger-paint and it is a project that I wouldn’t mind doing again in the future. The project gave me something to do while Jeremy was away and I liked being able to do something that let Jeremy know we were thinking of him. I framed the artwork and put it on Jeremy’s desk with a bunch of Hershey’s hugs and kisses as a welcome home gift. Overall, it was a fun experience for me. Good thing Owen is too young to remember this escapade!
The Colors
What am I supposed to do?
Messy boy!
The end result
Redecorating the office
Amy Scott's Thoughts 