Colored Spaghetti

What you need:

Spaghetti

Food coloring or liquid water colors

Zip lock bags

A little bit of  vegetable oil to keep it from sticking together

Place cooked spaghetti in zip lock bags with some food coloring/liquid watercolors and mix together.  

The invitation

Close up

Cloud Dough

Recipe:

8 cups of Flour

1 Cup of Baby Oil or Canola Oil

Colored Epsom Salt

To color epsom salt just mix salt with food coloring.  

To see natural dyes click FOOD BASED DYES

Some ideas for salts:

On the light panel and in the sensory bin

Candle crafts

Christmas ornaments

Bath bottles 

Salt Dough

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees
- Mix flour and salt well. Gradually add water....mix with hands and knead the dough until soft and pliable. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (on a floured surface)....cut shapes with cookie cutter....make a hole for hanging with a toothpick....bake for 1 hour.

Paint with acrylic paint

Pasta Sprinkles

See how to color pasta HERE

We used Pastina and Stelline pasta for this.  2, 12oz boxes made about 10 baby jars full.  I plan on putting these in old spice bottles to shake on top of our artwork.  

RL  

Silly Putty

Equal parts of liquid laundry starch and school glue.

Slowly mix starch in with glue... the more you handle it the better it will be.  

If the mixture is too sticky, add more starch. If it is too stringy, add more glue.

Add a bit of color using food coloring

Bouncing Bubbles

BOUNCING BUBBLES


Thing you need:

• 1 C distilled drinking water
• 1 Tablespoon dish soap
• 1 Teaspoon of glycerin (I ordered mine online)
• straw (this is just what I chose to blow the bubbles with, Im assuming you can use a typical bubble wand)
• 1 clean glove (or sock) - (this is to keep the bubble from popping)

MIX ALL INGREDIENTS TOGETHER AND LET SIT FOR 24 HOURS

Homemade Playdough

Homemade Playdough
1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice... or throw in a kool-aid packet.
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix. Add to a pan (I just used a non-stick deep frying pan) and cook over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until dough forms into a ball and isn't wet anymore. This took maybe 2 minutes?? It may sound like a pain in the butt but it was super easy. Take dough out after you have your ball (it will obviously be a little warm) and knead for a minute or two.

Homemade Bubbles

HOMEMADE BUBBLES

3 cups of water

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup dish soap (transparent/clear soap works best)

Mix water and corn syrup until blended.  Slowly stir in soap.  This will last several weeks in an air tight container.  

Microwave Puffy Paint

MICROWAVE PUFFY PAINT

• 4 Tbsp self rising flour
• a few drops of food coloring or liquid watercolors
• 4 Tbsp salt

Add water to make a smooth paste. 

OR

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• food coloring

Add water to make a smooth paste.  

Paint on cut-out cardboard squares.  After you have created your design, microwave on high for 10 - 30 seconds until the paint puffs and it's all nice and dry.  We did ours for 30 seconds.

Homemade Moonsand

 MOON SAND

Materials:

Play sand

Corn Starch

Water

Food coloring if desired.  

Combine play sand and starch.  Mix together.  Add water until you have the consistency you want.  The rule of thumb is to always cut everything in half starting with the sand.  We used...

6 cups play sand

3 cups corn starch

1 1/2 cups water. 

Food-Based Coloring and Dyes

• Purple: 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) or *Marionberries
• Light Pink: 1 cup Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• Light Yellow: 2 Teaspoons Turmeric
• Light Brown: 2 Tablespoons coco powder

Directions: combine fruit/spice and 1 cup water in a pan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain fruit/spice and store remaining liquid dye in a glass container.

 More Sources for DIY Natural and Food-Based Dyes

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/EasterEggDye.htm

Silly Putty

Equal parts of liquid laundry starch and school glue.

SLOWLY mix starch in with glue... the more you handle it the better it will be.  

If the mixture is too sticky, add more starch. If it is too stringy, add more glue.

Add a bit of color using food coloring.  It's best to add this in first with the glue so it permeates.

This can also be stored and saved in a plastic ziploc bag for up to 2-4 weeks depending on your use. 

Such a fun substance to work with and so much you can do!

We found our liquid starch in the laundry section of Walmart.  It looks like THIS

This is one we do ALOT!

Homemade silly putty

                                           Blowing bubbles

To blow bubbles in the silly putting, place a straw in the putty and blow!  

"I need to put a cast on, I broke my arm"

Fun with letters.  Making an R

Making Pizza

To see how to make your silly putty glow in the dark, click on the link below...

GLOW IN THE DARK SILLY PUTTY

Colored Rice/Pasta

1 Tablespoon of Rubbing Alcohol or Vinegar

Food Coloring or liquid watercolors 

2 cups of Dry Rice or Pasta

*Gel food coloring and liquid watercolors will produce vibrant colors.

Directions:

Add rubbing alcohol/vinegar and color to a quart size bag and mix.  Add 2 cups of rice and mix again.

After they are completely mixed, spread the rice out on a piece of wax paper to dry.    Make sure the rice/pasta is completely dry before you store it or it will get moldy.  It will smell a bit of alcohol or vinegar but it will get better over time.

You can also color the rice or pasta with Kool-aid.  Dissolve the Kool-Aid packet in a small amount of hot water and mix.  

To color cooked pasta... Just cook the pasta as you normally would (we like to cook al dente), place in a ziploc bag and add food coloring/liquid watercolors with a tiny bit of oil to prevent sticking.