Mom Hack: Safe Little Picasso

Oh no! Jelly Bean is taste-testing the finger-paint!

Or is she?

Artistic expression and “messy” play like finger painting, bath crayons, or working with slime is important to a child's development. It’s not only incredibly relaxing for a child, but artistic play is a healthy way to express feelings. It helps little bodies and brains integrate information that will later be needed for spatial concepts, math and language. But if your child is anything like Jelly Bean (she has a very curious little mouth even being almost 3), it’s not like I’m going to sit a jar of paint in front of her – there’s no level of supervision that would make that okay. 

So what is a Supermom to do? Create what I called “YogArt”! I tinted three small bowls of plain Greek yogurt with natural food coloring  and let my little artist go to town (if your child is lactose intolerant, be sure to use a non-dairy yogurt!)). Suddenly, it was a truly stress-free activity for both of us.  In fact, we both LOVED IT!

Not only do you end up with a cute picture for the fridge when you give your sweetie pie artistic freedom, you’re also giving them a head start on color recognition and color mixing. Their work will be up for auction in no time!