Really good directions are priceless... Two kid crafts. And cookies.

Fun for the Kiddos

Sometimes, when I make a big recipe of sugar cookies I use a different kind of flour and/or food coloring and make a small batch for my kids, so they can "be bakers" and have at it (I know which ones are theirs and so do they). And yes, I do bake their cookies, and they are thrilled to eat them.

When I make anything from a recipe I use my computer to type and or print it, then tape my copy to the kitchen cabinet. If I "always" halve or double the recipe I write the conversions to do so on that copy or I write it on another piece of paper and tape it over the full amounts. If I make a recipe often, it stays inside one of the kitchen cabinets. I keep lists of phone numbers in the same fashion.

My daughters are the perfect playing ages. And I love to make stuff with and for them. So clearly it's meant to be that we should do these two crafts, me with all this down time, and the bag of flour I got on sale months and months ago having exceeded it's Best By date...

Recycled Crayons and Homemade Play Dough

I didn't have anything to use as a mold that I didn't want to use for cooking in the future, so I used paper muffin cup liners, which I have many of (due to a formerly disorganized pantry). I doubled them up and filled them with crayon pieces from my daughters bin of old crayons (we don't throw them out, we just put them aside, I know I am training them to be pack rats, I am trying to come to some balance on this front). I sorted out the whole crayons and the small chalk. The chalk went into dixie cups next to the chalk board I mounted on a closet door (from that other post).

Next time I think I'll use a container from the thrift store or something I find, because they look rippled from the paper. I smoothed the weird edges out so I could stack and packages them as presents for the girls.

Directions: fill containers with broken crayons, place on a cookie sheet in a hot oven (I just preheated to 350) for five to eight minutes. I checked mine constantly. Once they looked mostly melted I turned the oven off, then I carefully removed them on their cookie sheet from the oven and let them firm up.

I loved the way the edges were a bit hairy and weird. I intentionally made them Reeses peanut butter cup thickness.

I think we'll do this together when I work out the kinks. (It takes a lot longer to unpeel the crayons that I thought it would, and crayola crayons have a glue on them that needs to be wiped off, also I will look for a more appropriate container.)

The recipe for home made clay is very simple, many many blogs and kids' sites have it:

Most are a close variation to the one I used yesterday:

Home made play dough {in green one fourth recipe for four colors}

2 c water
 ½ cup water +color

1 c salt
 1/4cup salt

4 tps cream of tartar
 1 tsp cream of tartar

4 tbs vegetable oil
 1tbs veg oil

2 c flour
 ½ c flour

In a large pot, begin with the water, coloring, oil, salt, and cream of tartar.

It should tell you to add your food coloring to the water FIRST, then add the other ingredients.

Begin gently heating over medium-low to medium heat.

When this mixture is warm, add the flour and mix well.

Use a silicone spatula with a strong wooden handle (I broke a plastic handle, and dyed a wooden spoon)

It will basically ball up and pull away from the sides. Once it's the right consistency remove from heat and put aside to cool. Once warm you can put it into a bag or plastic container. This play clay will keep for a couple of months in an airtight container.