finger paint and pictograms

The kids came running to me last week with some finger paint from the classroom. Now, I am not one to initiate a finger painting session. I always think of how messy it is and how it is going to get all over their clothes, etc. (I know. I know. Get over it.) Well, after a moment or so of trying to find a reason for them not to use it, I realized that we were studying ancient Chinese pictograms in history that day. Perfect...except that the finger paint was also ancient (no surprise there since we never use it). The kids were quite disappointed so I had to quickly come up with an alternative. And I figured since we have made play-doh (I like this recipe substituting half a pack of jello for the kool-aid) that surely we could make finger paint. It was as easy as brushing your teeth. Here is the recipe:

1 cup flour

1 cup water

food coloring

Yep. That's it. And I didn't have to worry about it staining clothes or being toxic (Of course I am pretty sure the store bought kind wasn't toxic either, but you know...) As you can see above, Lucy wasn't all that concerned with the pictograms, but Larkin did manage to "write" house...