GREAT CRAFT RECIPES!
Pat-A-Cake Baker's Clay
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cup cold water
Mix together flour and salt. Add water to mixture and blend. Knead for at least 10 minutes, or use a food processor. This will ensure that the mixture will bind and not fall apart when worked. Form shapes with clay. If this is to be hung like an ornament, poke a hole through using a straw or toothpick before drying. Bake on cookie sheet at 200-225 degrees for 2-3 hours until throughly dry. Paint the finished pieces as desired.
Lick & Stick Glue
1 tablespoon jello (any flavor)
2 tablespoon boiling water
Mix until dissolve. Paint precut shapes of paper. When dry, children can lick and stick. Tastes yummy too!
Homemade Glitter
Food coloring
Tin foil
Add a few drops of food coloring to salt. Spread mixture evenly over foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool. Experiment with many colors. Store glitter in old film containers or salt shakers.
Paper Mache
Create a pinata, ornaments, relief maps, and sculptures from old newpapers, gift wrap, or non-glossy magazine pages, For large items, you can make the insides hollow by using milk cartons, cans, styrofoam shapes, or ballons. Simply form your shape around it!
Mix two parts white glue to one part warm water. Tear paper into strips. Dip paper into liquid mixture. Apply one piece at a time to form shapes. You will need many layers of paper for strength and stability.
Bath Time Fun Recipe
Inexpensive shaving cream
Food coloring
For each color, mix 2 tablespoon shaving cream with food coloring. Mix, and put each color into an old muffin tin. Give a paintbrush to the child, and let him/her draw their own art on the bathtub. This washes off very easily.
Flavored Play Dough
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small package unsweetened powdered drink mix or Kool-Aid
1 cup boiling water
Mix flour, salt, oil and drink mix or Kool-Aid. Add boiling water. Stir together; knead mixture until it forms a soft dough.
NOTE: Keep it in a plastic container with lid between uses, and it lasts forever!
Fruity Putty 0.3-ounce package of sugar free fruit flavored gelatin
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Mix the dry ingredients in a pan. Add the boiling water and cooking oil. Stir over medium-high heat until the mixture forms a ball. Place the ball on waxed paper to cool. Store in an airtight container. Cut the fruit picture from the gelatin box and paste to the lid. Use different flavors to make all different colors and smells.
Silly Putty
1 part Sta-Flo liquid starch
1 part Elmer's white glue*
Food coloring (optional)
Mix glue and starch together until it feels like a putty and mix throughly. When not in use, Silly Putty may be stored in an upright container.
NOTE: Be sure to use Elmer's White Glue, NOT Elmer's "Washable" or School Glue." Otherwise, you'll just get Gak!
Great Goop
2 cups water
1/2 cup cornstarch
Food coloring
Boil water in saucepan - add cornstarch stirring until smooth. Add food coloring and stir. Remove from heat and cool. Child can play with the goop on any plastic covered surface.
Finger Paint
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 cups cold water
Food coloring or tempera paint
Mix cornstarch and water in a saucepan, stirring constantly to eliminate lumps. Bring to boil. Mixture will begin to thicken. Pour into several small containers (plastic laundry scoops, old muffins tins, and old film or yogurt containers). In each container, add a different color. Allow to cool before using.
Homemade Crayons
These can be made and given as gifts to your child's teacher or friends. Use theme molds for added interest, such as fish, flowers, holiday, or animal shapes.
1 cup soap flakes (Ivory Snow)
Food coloring
1 tablespoon hot water
Molds (candy, muffin tins, ice cube tray)
Mix soap flakes and hot water. Divide mixture into several bowls. Add your favorite color to each bowl. Blend well. Press mixture into molds and let dry for one week. Remove crayons and let air dry for an additional 1-2 days. To give as gifts, wrap several in pretty cellophane and tie off with ribbon.
Crazy Crayons
This is a cost effective way to use up all those broken pieces of crayons hanging around your kids room.
Place a variety of peeled broken bits of crayons into muffin tin about 1/4 full. Place into a 250 degree oven. When crayons appear to be completely melted, shut off oven. Allow to cool completely BEFORE removing pan from oven. Crayons should easily pop out when the bottom of pan is tapped. Experiment with color combinations!
Cold Water Tie Dye
3 packages cold water dye - all different colors
(avaiable at fabric or craft stores)
Water
3/4 cup salt
T-shirts - 100% cotton
Rubber gloves
Plastic bags (zip-type or other totally sealable)
Large rubber bands
Bottles with squirt-type top (old plastic mustard bottles are good)
1 large-size old craft bowl or bucket
1 medium-size old craft bowl or bucket
Funnel
Lots of newspapers, paper towels, old trays or pans to work on
Note: Be sure to review and follow manufacturer's precautions and first aid directions when using cold water dyes.
Make sure to use only 100% cotton shirts with no finishes (such as Scotchguard). Mixed blend shirts will still pick up the dye, but not quite as well.
First prepare your T-shirts by washing them (if they're new) and leaving damp. If it's not possible to leave the shirt damp after washing, just dampen the shirts before you begin. Remember we want the shirts damp not soaking wet. So be sure to wring shirts out.
Assemble your work area:
Lay plenty of newspaper out on work surface. This craft can get extremely messy and very staining so be careful. We recommend to do the actual dying of the shirts in some sort of old tray due to the amount of dye coming off the shirt during preparation. Also keep plenty of paper towels on hand. We highly recommend using rubber gloves during this project while handling the fixed, dyes, and saturated shirts. And also recommend the use of old clothes - just in case.
Prepare dye colors:
In old medium bowl or pitcher-type container, mix 1 1/2 cups of warm with package of first color of dye mix. Stir till dissolved. Using a funnel carefully pour dye into pre-labeled bottle with squirt-type tops any extra dye store to side in a sealed container. Repeat with renaining two colors placing them each in their own pre-labeled bottles.
Prepare fixer:
In old large bowl or bucket, pour 6 cups hot water, 3/4 cup of salt and 3 packages of cold dye fix from cold water dye packages. Stir to dissolve.
Tying shirt:
Make sure to start with a damp shirt. Lay shirt flat and gently grab center of shirt pulling up and holding shirt by center point. With other hand smooth shirt down into a snake-like shape.
Wrap first rubber band anywhere from 2 or 3 inches from top. Top do this, wrap band around shirt, then twist again ect (like making a pony tail). Continue wrapping rubber bands on shirt at intervals of anywhere from 2 to 3 inches apart and as tight as possible without breaking along entire length of shirts.
Beginning the dye process:
Wearing rubber gloves, soak shirts in fixer solution for a five minutes. Squeeze shirt gently so that it is damp but not soaking wet. Lay shirt in preparation tray. Begin applying colors as desired. You may want to begin by just turning the bottle over to sort of drip on the shirt until you gauge how fast your color is coming out of the bottle. The placement of the color is up to you. Little streaks of color here and there or make the gap between each rubber band a different color; turn shirt over to color bottom side too.
Make sure shirt is totally saturated with the colors because its hard to get the colors deep down in the shirt. You may want to press tip of bottle deep into shirt to saturate center of shirt. A lot of dye will end up in the pan, but that's to be expected.
When you're finished with your design, place shirt in a plastic bag and seal completely. Let set 24 hours.
Finishing:
After 24 hours, remove from bag (while again wearing gloves). Rinse, undo ties and rinse again. Soak in pan of hot soapy water 10 minutes. Rinse again till water runs clear and lay flat to dry. The first time you wash the shirts, wash them separately from other laundry with cup of white vinegar in the load.
You can have more or less colors than we used in our project. For two colors reduce the hot water mixed with the fixer to 6 cups and the salt to 1/2 cup and 2 packages of cold dye fix. To have more than 3 colors you may not need to adjust the amounts depending on how many T-shirts you are dying. If you are doing quite a few shirts and there is not enough fixer solution, add 3 cups of water and 1/4 cup salt and one package cold dye fix per color added.
Lots More Great Craft Recipes Links!
