Make Tortilla Art!

The other day I was staring at some leftover tortillas and a thought suddenly dawned on me.  These lovely flat circles would make great canvases.  So Chuck and I pulled out a couple of items from our kitchen and began painting some colorful edible art!    

Edible Art:  Let's Paint Tortillas!

Materials Needed to Make Tortilla Art

We each got a corn tortilla, spoon, straw, toothpicks and a lettuce "paintbrush."  (I ripped a lettuce leaf into strands, placed them in a bundle, and tied them together with a rubber band.)

To create the paint, I just placed a couple drops of food coloring mixed with water into the wells of a mini muffin tin.  (This muffin tin is the one I usually use for crafts.  So we couldn't eat these tortillas.  But if you want to make everything food safe and edible, you could always use ice-cube trays!)
 

Invitation to Create- Let's Make Tortilla Art!

Then Chuck and I just began playing around with the materials. At first he kept poking holes into his tortilla, but once he saw me painting he jumped in too!   I think we spent about 30 minutes sitting down and just playing around with the materials. 

Here is some of our edible tortilla artwork!

Two ways to extend this activity:

Ooh.  And here are some ways you can extend this activity:

1. Try some "butter resist" work.  We didn't try this, but I wonder if spreading butter on bits of the tortilla would prevent the food coloring from seeping through?  Hrmm....  
2. Wouldn't this be a cute lunch idea for dad for Father's day?  Paint some artwork or "I love dad" on the tortillas and then make turn them into a delicious quesedilla lunch for dad.

And... if you thought this project was fun here are some other ways you can play around with food!

• Kid Science- Let's Make Butter!
• Kid Science- Make an Orange Peel Candle
• Turn gumdrops into flowers
• 6 Things to do with gummy bears
• Let's tattoo a banana
• Secret Toast Stampers

Happy painting!