Ladies - I came across recipies for edible paint and play dough. I don't remember these being available growing up (although I am sure some mom somewhere had already worked them out). I can see the appeal on the one hand, you don't have to worry about little one's eating the paste, but I wonder is this really a good idea?
isn't it important that they learn that paint isn't safe to eat?
isn't it important too to make a distinction between food and craft supplies?
is this kind of wasteful?
Not opposed to it as such, just trying to get my head around something new. Have any of you used these? what are your thoughts?
Thanks a bunch.
Hmm. Kind of seems along the lines of the scented markers. lol. I personally doubt I would use them as a "here, you can lick the paint!" type thing... but say my toddler is just determined to eat her paintbrush... I would probably go for the edible variety rather than a toxic paint until she outgrows the phase.
Although, I have been known to let my DD finger paint her high chair tray with ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish. lol.
I never used the edible homemade play dough, mainly because I figured the cost of new play dough is so cheap I'd rather spend my time doing something else than making it :)
But I totally see the reasoning of teaching kids some things are just not supposed to be eaten. I think it may depend on how old your kids are - if they are still really young the idea that if they sneak a taste it would be okay (though you still teach that it's NOT okay to eat the item). But if your kids are old enough to understand that rule, I myself would just buy the regular stuff at the store. There is just way too many other things for me to do with my time than mixing up paint and play dough!
I don't use edible craft items and won't ever. I think edible versions of basically non-edible items only teach kids to put everything in their mouths and can pose an actual danger when kids start trying to eat buttons, feathers, glitter, silly putty and other craft items (or just get a tummy ache from chowing down on a container of regular Play-Doh). If you want to let your kids experiment with edible crafts, cook with them.
Hi Lori,
It's so funny you would ask about this today. Yesterday I finished a story I wrote for my grandkids called "Rainy Day Clay". The last page has a recipe for making clay. Edible, but not recommended. The idea is to make something safe for the kids, so that when your back is turned, it doesn't matter if the kid ate some of it. I used to make it for my kids 40 years ago. Easy and cheap. You store it in a plastic bag in the frig. The recipes can be googled. There are several different ones. Some are for food used as clay, and others as clay that is safe to ingest. Great fun for the kids!
"Grams"
from the Pocono Mts. of PA
This may not be what you're talking about, but I sometimes do edible finger painting with my kids and they love it. We make a batch of instant vanilla pudding, then separate it into the cups of a muffin tin and make different colors with food coloring. After 5 minutes in the fridge, we're ready to paint :) They get to play around with mixing colors and the fun of eating/painting. And as an FYI, they have always known the difference between pudding paint and regular paint! We still do regular painting, but sometimes it's fun to mix it up a little :) Enjoy!
Hmmm. I haven't seen these edible paints/play dough, but maybe the point of them isn't to advocate the kids making something they can also eat. Maybe the point is that JUST IN CASE they DO eat it, it'll be ok. I probably wouldn't tell my kiddos it's ok to eat it so they don't generalize, but if they did eat it, I wouldn't feel like I had to call poison control. :)
Homemade playdoh has been around forever! We made it when I was a kid. It has a ton of salt in it and doesn't taste good at all! But it is non toxic and natural so if a kid snuck a bite it would be ok. After one bite, I don't think you'd want another though! I used to let my kids finger paint with choc pudding, ketchup, mustard etc when they were very young 1.5-2yrs old. They loved it!
