Kid Safe DIY Homemade Paint

My two year old still randomly decides to taste things.  His older brother rarely (if ever) put stuff in his mouth.  And Baby G doesn't do it often but when he does it's always things that freak me out.  Like Easter egg dye, crayons and paint. 

Our summer list included painting and I changed that to painting with homemade paint.  I figured it'd be an activity within an activity.  I wanted to let them mix the colors in and then paint with the color creations they'd made!

Here's how we made Homemade Edible (but not yummy, but you know, just in case!) DIY Paint! 

Warning: Do not tell your kids you are starting this process.  There is wait time to let the mixture cool and well, if your kids are like mine...waiting isn't a strong suit!

You will need:
2 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 tbs white sugar
1 tsp salt

On low to medium heat mix ingredients in a saucepan and let warm up, stirring occasionally.  It took a good 15 minutes for my mixture to thicken.  I was able to walk away and tend to other things, coming back in to check and stir.  Perhaps if I turned the heat up it would've been quicker, but I wasn't chancing it. 

If you are planning to reuse the paint you'll want something airtight to keep them in (baby food jars would be good).  I didn't plan to save the paints so I used a shaped ice cub tray (and a baby plate with four separate areas since the ice cube trays only came in a two pack and I have three kiddos :)).  Let the mixture cool...I told you there was waiting involved!

Once the mixture has cooled let the kids use food coloring to make custom colors for their works of art.  We used small paint brushes and toothpicks to stir.  Us can use this paint on regular paper or something thicker (or even a driveway and when they are done you can just spray it away?!).