Art for toddlers who still want to taste everything

[kitikatuka]

I need some ideas and am hoping you all might be of help: my daughter, 18 months, is really oral, and still puts everything in her mouth.

I've found two creative activities that she can do that I'm okay with her tasting: 1.) painting with water on paper bags and/or on those "paint with water" books (she dips the brush and sucks the water off the bristles) , and 2.) sticking bits of tissue paper and/or yarn to clear contact paper. Oh and stickers - stuck to her, mostly, but that's fine.

She eats crayons and colored pencils, finger paint goes from finger to mouth, and I haven't even attempted tempera paints or paste/glue. I keep trying homemade play dough, but she eats that up, too. It may just be a matter of time and patience, but I'd love to find some cool creative activities for her to do on these rainy afternoons.

So beyond contact paper, water, and stickers, does anyone have any ideas for safe-to-taste creative activities?

[mamadelbosque]

what about finger painting with choc pudding, or vanilla pudding with food coloring for a variety of colors??

[just_lily]

Pudding finger painting is popular here. I just put a spoonful of pudding on the highchair tray, and let DD go to town. Best to strip her down to her diaper first though, and be prepared to stick her right into the tub afterwards!

[ghostlykisses]

Pudding or yogurt painting is fun but messy.

Modeling with bread dough or eggless cookie dough instead of playdoh

Paper mache using flour and water mix? Too advances maybe but I think a little one would like to dip the strips into goo and place them on something

Macaroni art with minimal glue applied by you

[34me]

corn syrup and food coloring makes really cool finger paint that you can use on paper....

[aylaanne]

another painting-with-water thing that my son's playgroup does is on a chalkboard. The teachers wrote on the chalkboard and then erased it, and gave the kids damp paintbrushes to "paint" with. Highly clever, if you ask me.

[brandianndesigns]

these are some great ideas! my son is very oral too and loves to put anything in his mouth!

[kitikatuka]

Thank you everyone - these ideas are very helpful! Can't wait to give them a try.

[peachespoe]

I also have a VERY oral 18 month old and have been wondering about this too. Thanks for the ideas. I did make some playdough (water, salt, cream of tartar, food coloring and flour) yesterday. She put some in her mouth at first, but it is SO salty that she got the picture pretty quickly. She was entertained for about five minutes with the playdough which is a start.

She also sucks the water off of paint brushes, eats crayons, markers and so on. I went to school for art so I am dying to start art projects with her!

[hakeber]

My son's pre-school has done art with Tang. They made a thick paste out of the mix and used it to paint on paper like tempera paints. But that may encourage the tasting in the future. Kool aid would work too, I bet.

Crayola's products are all non-toxic.

You could also make rolled fondant or marzipan for her to play with...very sugary, but really yummy!


Or bake cookies and let her canvas be the cookies and her paint the frostings.