This edible rainbow uses just two ingredients, costs almost nothing, and is completely safe to taste, which makes it a brilliant one for a younger child or a cautious eater. The whole rainbow is made from bread and food coloring. You toast it, blitz it into crumbs, dye the crumbs in rainbow colors, and arch them across a tray. The result looks far more impressive than the effort it takes. Ages 1.5 to 4.
Making the rainbow crumbs
Lightly toast about six slices of bread, then blitz them in a food processor into fine crumbs. Divide the crumbs between several bowls, one per color. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl and stir it through until the crumbs are evenly colored. Toasting first helps the crumbs stay dry and crumbly rather than going sticky.
Arranging it on the tray
Tip the colored crumbs onto a dark tray in arcs, one color at a time, to build up the rainbow. A black or dark surface makes the colors really pop. Cut a couple of clouds from white paper for each end, and the picture is complete. It is genuinely lovely to look at, which is half the appeal before a child has even touched it.
Playing, and tasting
Then it gets demolished, which is exactly the point. Scooping the crumbs between little bowls, running them through fingers, mixing the colors into new shades, and yes, tasting, because it is all just bread. For a fussy eater, a food they have helped color and played with freely can be far less daunting than the same food on a plate, and there is no harm at all in a mouthful of colored crumbs.
For another taste-safe sensory activity, our edible jelly worms hide wobbly worms in a tray of crushed mud. And for a colorful sit-down option, our free unicorn coloring pages carry the rainbow theme onto paper.