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I always knew this was possible, but I had never tried it. Now I can see why children are so tempted to eat play dough, especially this one:
No Cook, Chocolate Play Dough
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/2 c salt
1/2 tablespoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 c boiling water
Mix the dry ingredients. Add the oil and boiling water. Stir quickly, mixing well. When starting to cool, knead with hands to completely blend.
I am in search of a really good recipe for a clay/dough that will harden, so the kids can paint their creations. We'd prefer not to bake them if possible, but most air dry recipes start to mold before they harden enough to paint and seal.
Does anyone have some really different home made glue/adhesive recipes? The school-agers are doing some experiments with adhesives and I wanted something beyond flour and water type recipes. Anything really wacky, that works?
Homemade foaming hand soap
If your daycare kids are anything like mine, you go through a lot of soap. Our kids really love foaming hand soap and it's easy to get them to wash hands now. To save on refills we make our own.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons liquid hand soap or antibacterial dish soap
2/3 cup warm water
Directions
1.Gently mix soap with water. Do NOT shake!
2.Pour into foam soap dispenser.
Rainbow Crayons
OLD muffin pans
old broken crayons
Preheat oven to 250. Peel paper off crayons. Put 5-10 different colored pieces in each muffin space. Place muffin pan in oven until crayons melt. Let crayons cool over night. Remove from pans and create beautiful rainbow pictures.
You could add sparkles to make it fun too!
If you didn't have old muffin tins you could use muffin liners ( i would double or triple the liners just to make sure it didn't go anywhere!)
1/2 cup Elmers All purpose glue
1/4 cup Liquid Starch
Liquid food coloring
Pour glue into container, add food coloring and 1 tablespoon of the liquid starch. mix thoroughly to get an even texture. Continue adding starch 1 tablespoon at a time and working into a smooth putty with your fingers.
I've never made this but always wanted to but it was never in any of my daycares budget or i wasn't working with school agers.
Dishwashing detergent
food coloring or washable paint
a straw
paper
shallow pan
Mix about 1/2 cup detergent and 1/3 cup of water in a shallow pan. Mix in food coloring or washable paint. Take the pan outside, dip one end of straw into paint/bubble lift it up and blow through other end to make bubble. Pop colored bubbles on a white piece of paper to make great "bubble prints".
This would be great if your making presents and want to wrap them in something child initiated.
2 cups flour
2 packs kool-aid
1/2 cup salt
3 cups boiling water
3 tbsp. oil
Mix wet ingredients into dry. The kids love the color change. Then paint away.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup Cornstarch
Water
Food colouring (optional)
1 Plastic tray
Instructions:
Combine the ingredients, adding enough water to make goop that is squishy to the touch, and not too runny. Allow your toddler to touch and explore the goop.
I LOVE this activity..granted it can be messy (wear a smock/old shirt). When it dries it's much easier to clean up! To mix it up you can glitter or fun shaped glitter to it too!
Have fun!
1 c. water
3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. salt
1/4 c. oil
Food coloring
Combine ingredients in bowl and mix.
Add more flour if mixture is too sticky.
Store in a plastic zip-lock bag.