Bottle babies, teaching to drink from a dish

I have fostered bottle babies a couple of times now. Some figured it out sooner than others. But these are having the worst time! They eat canned food from a dish but won't drink! Still drinking from a syringe. I put the dish down with kitten formula, put some on my finger and rub it on their mouths, then show them the dish. They try but get some up their nose and give up. Also since they've been eating canned food most of them don't want the formula at all any more. But there's not enough liquid just in the canned food. Any advice?

We usually give the babies gruel, food mixed with formula, rather than the wet food alone.  They learn to drink it, and they never get the plain wet food until they have moved through the mixture stage.  It's messy for sure, they end up getting baths every night, but it's a short period of time before they master it.

I usually do it that way too. These babies however wouldn't have it! They are difficult I tell you!