Learning can be delicious with fun kids science experiments like these homemade lollipops. They’re easy to make, yummy to eat and give children the opportunity for some hands-on science investigation.
Learning can be delicious with fun kids science experiments like these homemade lollipops. They’re easy to make, yummy to eat and give children the opportunity for some hands-on science investigation.
Sandcastle messy play with a homemade cloud dough recipe is perfect for summer days when you can’t get to the real beach – or when you want a relaxing sensory playtime in the shade of your own home.
Here’s the recipe:
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Cloud dough is one of the recipes in my e-book The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book.
It’s very easy to make and a totally different sensory experience to traditional play dough.
To make it, you will need:
4 cups of flour
1 cup of oil (we most often use baby oil, to get a lovely fragrance)
glitter is optional, but we like some extra sparkle!
All you need to do is combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix…
until it combines and gives you a texture that looks like you’re about to make pastry.
But… give the cloud dough a squish with your hand and you’ll see how it comes together and holds its shape! So cool!
My girls find it irresistible. It’s such a touchy-feely material to play with.
Be aware that this is messy play (that’s half the fun , isn’t it) – although I find the clean up afterwards is quick and easy.
I wouldn’t try it in a room with a carpet, but it sweeps up fine from my kitchen floor.
The squishing is so much fun and as the dough holds its shape it’s perfect for making sandcastles.
I set out some scoops and bowls in different sizes and we had our own homemade mini beach!
The girls made some flags for their sandcastles {from toothpicks and tissue paper} to go on top. You can add little people and a little square of fabric and set up a picnic day out on the beach.
Here’s a super easy DIY craft recipe that shows you how to make clay (that’s actually more like an air-drying dough) and turn it in to some beautiful butterflies.
Click play on the video above to see our playdough masterclass.
This video gives you everything you ever wanted to know about play dough: how to make homemade playdough with quick and easy recipes; the benefits of playdough for children; and lots of sensory play activities using play dough including playdough math activities, playdough literacy activities, and playdough fine motor skills activities.
Plus find out how to get printable playdough recipe cards and printable play mats. It’s an excellent beginners guide to play dough!
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To make the air-drying clay/dough you will need one part PVA glue and two parts cornflour {UK name} / cornstarch {US name}.
Then all you need to do is mix the two together.
In a matter of minutes you’ll go from this :: to this :: to this, and you’ll have a lovely, white moldable dough, similar in consistency to ready-roll icing/frosting.
Then you can roll out the dough and use some cookie cutters to stamp out some shapes. We’re making butterflies today, but watch out for a beautiful loveheart version in my play dough e-book.
You can use a pencil or skewer to make a hole in your butterfly, if you want to be able to hang it up.
And you can use a dry paintbrush to sweep over the surface and remove any clay dough crumbs that you might have on the surface of your butterflies.
Then you can set your butterflies on a flat surface {we used a baking tray lined with baking parchment} and leave them overnight to dry out.
Once they are dry the hardened clay dough is a wonderful surface to decorate, and it takes pencils and wax crayons really well.
Your children can add colour and patterns and symmetry to make each butterfly unique.
Then you can add string or ribbon threaded through the holes so you can hang up your butterflies. We’re adding ours to our seasonal tree which sits year-round in our entrance hall – click through if you’d like to see the Valentine, Easter and New Year versions.
If lollipops make your heart go giddy-up this Valentine crispy cake recipe is for you! Just three ingredients (with a few added decorations) and about 20 minutes to make, it’s a recipe the kids can do by themselves with a little supervision.
Here’s how we made them and at the end you’ll find a printable recipe card you can download.
To make around 20 small heart shaped lollipops you will need: [Read more…]
Here’s a great recipe for Valentine cookies. They’re really easy to make, and look – and taste! – fantastic.