Homemade Finger Paint is easy to make, tastes amazing, and is incredibly fun for the whole family! It’s also a great way to show your kids that cooking and art are one in the same. If you’re looking for a way to introduce your kids (or anyone else) to some new flavors, now you can have them try fun ones without all the sugar that comes with packaged jams or cookies. You can also use the finger paint to create fun artwork and art projects! This homemade edible finger paint recipe is so easy, your kids will be able to make it themselves.
Here’s what you will need:
Coconut Oil (4 oz) – You can use refined coconut oil if you don’t have fresh coconut. It will give a slightly different consistency though, so I recommend using unsweetened coconut if possible. If you try making this recipe with refined coconut oil, do let me know how it works for you in the comments below 🙂
Diy Finger Paint Ingredient Suggestions:
Peppermint Oil – Minty!
Sage Oil – Sage is one of my favorite herbs to add to dishes and we have it in our herb garden often. It’s such a beautiful scent, but so not immediately noticeable when you smell it on its own. Add a bit to the paint for an amazing surprise.
Lemon Oil – Lemony! You can also add essential oils like lemon, peppermint, cloves or vanilla for some lovely fragrances. Lemon oil is another great way to get your kids more familiar with the flavor of lemons without adding sugar.
DIY Finger Paints Recipe:
Step 1:
Grind the coconut in a coffee grinder or food processor until it forms a paste. This will take anywhere from 20-30 seconds depending on your machine. A food processor will work best if you have one available to you.
Mix the coconut until it becomes smooth and creamy getting rid of any remaining large chunks of unblended coconut.
Step 2:
Stir the coco butter into the melted beeswax in a small saucepan over low heat until thoroughly mixed, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 2-3 minutes before pouring into molds or onto popped corn kernels (or whatever surface you want to use) for storage, if needed. [Don’t ever put these two ingredients together in the same dish as they will start to melt if you haven’t removed them from heat beforehand.]
Step 3:
While the coconut butter mixture is still warm, add the peppermint oil. You can cool it before adding the peppermint oil so it doesn’t melt any of your finger paint. You can also add spices or different oils to the oil and butter mixture to make it smell differently or even taste different than just plain coconut oil.
Step 4:
Transfer the melted coconut mixture into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. You can smooth the top with a spatula or spoon if necessary.
Step 5:
Spoon the finger paint onto popped popcorn kernels (or onto your chosen surface). Popcorn kernels work best for storing the finger paint, but you can use cookies, fresh pasta noodles or even madeleines (madeleines are wonderful because they’re so small. Kids can hold onto them easily and store them in a basket of other finger paint creations.)
Note: If you don’t have popped corn, you can store the mixture in little plastic bags.
DIY Paint for Kids:
The coconut oil can be rubbed onto the skin. It will melt a bit, but it’s not greasy and it will give your skin a wonderful sheen that lasts all day. I like to rub it into my hands before bed in the winter time. It’s also great for moisturizing dry elbows and knees!
When you make this paint on a surface, let your kids paint with their fingers or use popsicle sticks to create fun shapes and art! When they’re done painting, the dried paint is easily peeled off whatever surface you used.
Edible Finger Paint Recipe Variations:
You can quickly make a peppermint version by mixing together 2-3 drops of peppermint oil with coconut oil. Use popsicle sticks for your little ones to use. The peppermint oil will make the paint smell more like the gum they’re used to eating! You can also add a bit of food coloring to brighten up the color if you’d like; I prefer not to, as this is a very natural color.
Edible Paint for Toddlers:
These are great for little hands. We have used finger paint for our kids twice. The first time was homemade and we loved it. The second time we gave the kids store bought finger paint and they hated it. The reason was that the store bought organic finger paint has corn syrup in it which makes it taste different than homemade finger paint.
What Do I need to Know about Finger paint paper?
Most of the finger paint paper that is commercially available is coated with wax or some other coating to make it more slippery. I wasn’t sure if homemade finger paint would slide easily when I first tried it, but it actually does slide very easily! With the store bought finger paint, our little one couldn’t get her fingers to slide when she painted. It was such a frustrating experience that she wasn’t willing to try it again.
You can find more of our natural kids crafts and activities here:
It’s so much fun for kids to explore art! Natural, homemade paints are a great way for them to have a safe time exploring different colors and textures. For more ideas, please see my post about making homemade playdough .
What Do I need to Know about paint brushes?
I have not tried these yet, as I don’t have any natural paint brushes. However, I bought a set of natural playdough paints and the kids were able to make the dough into any shape they wanted. I would imagine that brush made from vegetables would work just as well.
Farmers Market Source Canola oil is essential for making these finger paints. Other ingredients are coconut and palm fruit oils, which can be purchased at your local farmers market or from Amazon . (You can also use olive oil).
What Do I need to Know about homemade paint recipe?
Store this in an airtight container and it will be good for about a month.
I have seen other recipes that use cornstarch to thicken the paint. I used arrowroot because it has a similar consistency and works well.
I should also mention that I have no idea how this will hold up for adults to paint on paper with! We did not try that, so I can’t speak to how it would work.
If you try it, please let me know!
What Do I need to Know about Edible Finger Paint? Store in an air tight container and this will be good for about a month.
What Do You need to Know about natural food coloring and homemade fingerpaint? I have seen recipes that use watercolor paints, but I found that the colors didn’t blend as well when I tried that. Also, add the food coloring directly to the oil mixture and stir until dissolved. Do not add to the water and stir.
I used yellow mustard AND turmeric, red cabbage AND beet powder because I wanted a variety of colors. The mustard works really well as a natural food coloring for this project.
What Do You need to Know about homemade paint and food colouring?
I made this recipe based on the Canadian Living recipe , using a variety of oils and not just one cheap oil as the base. We used canola oil, coconut oil and palm fruit oils to add more colour to the paint. I found that a single carrier oil works best for this project, since it was difficult to get different colors to blend well without blending them first.
What Do You need to Know about homemade paint and cold water? Cold water works best for finger painting because it doesn’t spill out of the bucket as easily. If you try to paint with slightly warm or hot water, it will splash all over your hands and clothes.
What Do You need to Know about homemade paint and food colouring?
I would recommend using bright colours like these for fingerpaint as they blend better than dark colours do. The only exception is if you are trying to do something like an oil painting, since you can use black to get a darker colour.
What Do You need to Know about homemade paint cups water?
I Just used some plastic picnic cups I had to hold the paint.
What Do You need to Know about homemade paint and paper towels?
To clean up your toddler you will need some paper towels. I just tore off a small piece of the roll, but next time I will use a whole roll since there was not enough paper towel (apart from that everything went fine).