Everywhere I went, someone was telling me I needed to start doing sensory activities with Baby Bird.

There was just one problem: I had no clue what a sensory activity was.

OK, that’s not really true. I understood the basics — it’s an activity meant to stimulate the senses — but wouldn’t EVERYTHING qualify as a sensory activity for a baby? Just the act of living is a sensory activity if you’ve only been alive for a few months, right?

Of course, I never said anything crazy like that to anyone. Instead, I turned to Pinterest.

Beans. Bags. Sand. Slime. Putty. Paint. Noodles — oodles of sensory options.

I closed my eyes and put my finger on the screen.

Paint. We were gonna paint!

Water painting. Bubble wrap painting. Painting with infant cereal …

You see my dilemma.

I knew my mom would want something to hang in her living room, so water was out. Bubble wrap irks me, so I crossed that off the list.

After weeks of wasting time, I finally bought some 8×10 canvases and decided we’d be finger painting. Since everything goes into Baby Bird’s mouth, the paint had to be edible.

Numerous recipes failed to meet my rigorous standards:

• Will it adhere canvas and regular paper?
• Is it squishy/fun to use?
• Will it easily wash out of my carpet and Baby Bird’s clothes/body/hair?
• Does it taste good, but not so good the kid will want to eat it all and not paint?

My final concoction passed the test. It resulted in these two masterpieces:

I really do think they’re pretty awesome. They never attracted ants, which was a concern, and the paint hasn’t flaked off. I’m planning to have Baby Bird make more so we can hang them in her bedroom.

Here’s a look at her “process”:

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BTW: The kid is available for commissioned work.

Just kidding … unless you’re actually interested. If you are, contact me. (Kidding … but not really.)

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