recipe: Sidewalk paint

We were first introduced to commercial sidewalk paint when it was given to us as a gift. Toddlers and pre-schoolers love this stuff, so I was delighted to find this easy recipe for making sidewalk paint in Andrea's post "How to play hopscotch."

Materials:

• cornstartch
• water
• food colouring (for white paint, don't use any food colouring)

Instructions:

• mix equal parts cornstartch and water
• add a few drops of food colouring
• paint!

Notes to self:

• the images shown were made with 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup cornstartch and 3 drops food colouring
• I had better luck with adding 7-8 drops food colouring for that volume of paint
• red/pink paint needs more food colouring than green
• the paint can be pretty watery to apply, but dries opaque and easily sweeps / washes off (it's not as thick, bright or wear-resistant as the commercial product)
• if you don't add enough water, you get Oobleck
  
  

  "If you quickly smack oobleck with your hand it immediately turns into a solid, instead of splashing or moving. If you slowly move oobleck it reacts like a liquid."

• Oobleck can be particularly frustrating to paint with. Although you can pour it out of its container, the minute you apply any force with a brush, it solidifies!
  

recipe: soap bubbles

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/craftyrecipes/a/blhmbubbles.htm

Materials Needed:
1/2 cup dish soap
1 1/2 cups water
2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions:
Mix all 3 ingredients together. Don't stir or shake too much! :-) Store in a sealed container. Experiment with blowing bubbles using different items.
Tips from Mark: 1 cup warm water, 1/4 cup blue dishwashing liquid, and 1tsp. salt (If you have some glycerin at home add a teaspoon of it to make even better bubbles). Combine well, but do this gently. Use as you would any other bubbles



http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/activities/a/bubbles.htm
Best Bubble Solution
1 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons Light Karo syrup or 2 Tablespoons Glycerin
4 Tablespoons Dishwashing liquid

Mix together and have fun!

recipies: invsible ink

http://inthetrenchesofmotherhood.com/?p=99
This is a really simple one.
Squeeze some lemons or limes into a glass. This juice will be the ink.
Give them a small paintbrush or a Q-tip to use as writing implement.
Have them write the message on a sheet of white paper. When the “ink” dries it will be invisible.
To make the message reappear, hold the sheet of paper over a heat source. A hot water bottle, heating pad, in front of your wood burning stove, a heat register are some ideas.

recipe: Oobleck

Recipe found here: http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com/2007/03/02/oh-the-places-you-will-go/

If you quickly smack oobleck with your hand it immediately turns into a solid, instead of splashing or moving. If you slowly move oobleck it reacts like a liquid.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• a few drops of food colouring (optional)
  

Instructions:

• mix ingredients together
• try it (hit it then pour it off a spoon) before adding more than 1 cup of water

homemade stickers

From Today's Parent magazine:

http://www.todaysparent.com/craftsactivities/craftcorner/article.jsp?content=20060801_162642_1668&page=1

recipes: playdough

From Today's Parent magazine


http://www.todaysparent.com/craftsactivities/craftcorner/article.jsp?content=985109

crafty recipes

details can be found at: http://www.twinslist.org/toddler.htm#crafts

for:

• yuk!
• pet tornado
• chalk
• spray chalk
• watercolour paints
• watercolour wands
• almost oilpaint
• sawdust dough
• coffee dough
• bathtub fingerpaints
• puffy dough paint
• goop
• plastic suncatchers
• balloon animals
• soap shapes
• peanut butter dough
• silly putty
• chalk
• spary chalk
• watercolour paints
• sticker glue
• claydough
• no cook claydough
• stovetop claydough
• edible peanut butter claydough
• koolaid claydough

recipies

http://www.kiddiecampus.com/artcook.htm#Artrecipes

Dough - cooked and uncooked
Finger paint - cooked and uncooked
Slime / silly putty
Soap paint