Art - food or paint?

Today I read the below on a website which I frequent and usually enjoy very much. It has inspired me to write today’s post:

Make some brightly coloured "paints" from puréed vegetables and let your baby get creative with them on her highchair tray. As your baby uses her hands to mix and swirl the various goos, tell her the names of the colours and show her how they combine to form secondary shades. (Of course, don't expect her to repeat or remember the names of the colours at this age!)

So what do you think?

I am of the opinion that food is precious and we should not be encouraging our children to play with it. Our son does put his hands in his food but we encourage him to eat well and to use a spoon. We do not let him play with his food as we think this is unacceptable behaviour. It would be pretty difficult to go to a restaurant and have him smear food over the tray or up the walls.

I understand that for some people this activity would be fine but my argument would be why can’t you get the paints out and let your little one have this fun? Nowadays the paints are child friendly and they can learn the difference between the colours mixing and playing in the same way.

We got the paints out at the weekend and our little guy had a fantastic time. We stripped him down to his nappy and had a bath ready for when he was done then we spread a huge piece of paper on the floor and let him go for it. We showed him how to use a paintbrush and he loved putting his hands and feet in the different colours. After a while he was crawling over the paper and squealing with delight.

The three of us had a good laugh and have hung his art on his bedroom wall and continue to talk about it and the colours we made.

 http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/development/letsplay/8months4thweek/#ixzz28uBTb4GI