I started experimenting with making caramel and hard toffee candy after my son Luke asked me how candy is made. Of course the kids all loved it, but I felt bad about how much sugar they were eating.
I had read a great article on how much better for you honey is than sugar - it is a far more complex food. I did a search. Did you know you can make candy using only honey and butter? (Usually it's made with sugar.) A French recipe makes honey butter candy by boiling equal parts of both to 150 degrees C / 300 F (upper limit of hard crack stage). Then nuts and dried fruits are added. So you can make pure honey candy, which is the healthiest. For the candies above, I used some sugar. Mix and boil 230 g butter 500 g honey 1 cup sugar Boil candy to 135 C / 275 F. (You need to use a candy thermometer.) It turned out great, but a little too much sugar - a few pieces and my blood was racing. I actually wished I had just used honey alone as the French recipe said.
Even little kids can paint a shape from a mold (this is from a dragonfly cookie mould that Luke (5) pushed the clay into himself, and later painted by himself).
Phoebe Gibbins (5)
Terracotta coloured air drying clay. We really enjoyed working with it - had a really good session.
It tends to dry out quickly when working with it – so have a bowl of water handy.
(And toothpicks - and beads for eyes.)
Very fragile until totally dry. Other than that, a very low-fuss clay for working with kids (and working with yourself.)
Paint with a high quality white primer first if you want your colours on
the surface to be bright (I always steal a teaspoon of my husband’s
expensive house renovation stuff.)
I also like how warm the terracotta clay looks, unpainted. It reminds me of Etruscan art - they often used brown clay - full of warmth and life - compared to other cultures. Even their art for burial focusses on life, not death.
This
project was almost too major - I almost threw them out in frustration. With Troy's dinosaur, I stopped
after only half finishing the paper mache and then the balloon
shrunk, so I had to do reconstruction and fixing. I also left them out at another stage and it rained - so more reconstruction. But in
the end I was glad I hadn't given up because the dinosaurs had alot of character despite
being imperfect.
For a smaller project, make smaller dinosaurs (blow up the balloons less). Or don't stop the paper mache halfway through - or leave them out in the rain!
We got this idea from a book based on the kids TV program called Art Attack by Neil Buchanan (ISBN 9781405307451). These dinosaur banks were called "beastly banks".
Stage 1. Paper mache using white (PVA) glue and water.
Georgie and Troy (7), and Lucan (5). Although he loved the banks, Luke didn't yet have the patience to make one.
Blow up a balloon, and tape on rolled up printer paper for the neck and tail. Tape on toilet paper rolls which have been cut in half for the feet. For extra structural strength, also wrap and twist wire to support head and neck - we found it essential and both dinosaurs were later supplemented with wire. I also glue-gunned the wire construction to the dinosaur. Get the children to tear up alot of newspaper, and get a small bucket with PVA glue (white glue) mixed with some water. Dip the strips in the glue solution and cover dinosaur. This is the time to "go with" the character of your dinosaur, bringing it out. You can add ridges to the back with folded newspaper.
Tip: You can create a reptilian wrinkly texture for the skin by adding toilet paper to the wet surface. But don't touch it too much or it will ball up and tear away!
Coin slot and cork hole underneath
When you are done the paper mache and it is dry, cut a coin slot in the top, and a circular hole underneath in the belly, the same size as the cork you are using. Coil up a piece of wire around your cork to size it, and paper mache the metal ring to act as a hole liner to give it the hole strength. (I originally gluegunned in a plastic tube, but since it rose up too high with its ridge inside the money couldn't get out - so I had to cut it out and do this later with a glue gun and fabric. It would have been far neater to do it at this stage. Photo below.)
Stage 2: Paint with white primer.
Tips: We used really good quality white primer paint (usually as a prep for walls). This paint provides a great base for decorating and fills in and seals the sculpture.
Stage 3: Decorate your dinosaur bank using acrylic paint and/or paint store samples.
Get the kids to mark out their designs with a marker first, and then they can start filling in. After they have done what they can handle, help them finish it off nicely so they'll be proud of their dinosaurs.
When they are done, they are like characters - encourage the kids to name them. Polka-dot and Tiger are friends - as the girls who made them are.
1. Make bread dough they can make creatures out of - which they can eat after.
Number One on my list because this is my kids (and their friends) favourite thing to do at our house. It's actually really simple to make basic bread dough. Here is my no-measuring method. As long as you have some of all the ingredients below - and enough flour, you can't really go wrong: First, get about 3 cups of warm water in a mixing bowl. Then, sprinkle yeast (any kind) over the top of the surface. Sprinkle some sugar to feed the yeast. After a minute or so, it will start to foam up.(You don't have to wait, but you can.) Then, add a sploosh of oil(optional, but this added fat will make it more of a treat, and also decrease stickiness).Add a large pinch of salt. Don't stress about doing it perfectly - as long it all the elements are there, you will have dough.
At this point you have the brew to make the dough. Mix it with a wooden spoon (or any spoon you have), then start pouring flour in, slowly. It will at first make a sticky soup. At the point where it becomes hard to stir, get your clean hands in, stir and mix around with your hands, adding more until it's - just barely - no longer sticky, or only just. Try to get it to cleave all together as one mass.
The kids may or may not be waiting on you. You can do this ahead of time and place a dish cloth over it so it will rise up - but you can also whip this up on the spur of the moment and give them a chunk to play with. It will still have the same educational and creative value! (And it will still taste fine.) After all their playing, and the time it sits in a greased pan, it will have risen enough.
Anyways, make sure when you give the kids their handful of dough that you keep the surface on the table in front of them sprinkled with flour as they won't be able to deal with very sticky dough. You can keep a bowl or cup on the table for sprinkling the dough or table as needed.
Ideas for making things - start them making balls or sausages. Cookie cutters and child sized rolling pins to use. If they aren't afraid to make things, just let them go, but their experience will be much improved by you participating and showing them how to make things. After they are rolling, you can let them go.
You can use pinto beans to make great eyes - but limit their use of them - they are hard and not really edible.
It's important to set a greased pie pan or baking pan beside them for them to place their finished, focused creations into as it gives them a sense of accomplishment when they can see what they've made.
Have the oven heating up to 160 degrees C (or 360 F). Even little kids can brush butter and sprinkle sugar over top their finished creatures.
Troy made me laugh as I was filming her and Luke for my blog, she just started hosting her own video tutorial on how to make a dough critter. I didn't stop her - their video is below.
2. Make things out of junk or scrap materials. ie houses, cars, animals, whatever they want to build.
Josh (above) loved making armour and and a sword for his clay creature out of a bottlecap, wire, cloth, a toothpick, bit's he'd found. The monkey guy also has a drum set made out of bottlecaps.
It may look scrappy to us - but their imaginations are firing away. Get a glue gun - wire, pliers, use a drill to make holes in plastic things, or just sew things together with a big needle (even cardboard). Double sided tape, card, old interesting objects you come across - save them in some designated area (if you can mentally handle the chaos). Real order can come out of the right amount of chaos. Too much and you are a hoarder. Too little, and you are a fusspot. Get the right balance for craft activities as you go!
I still remember the endless possibilities I imagined when I found a neat object.
It's so cool to hear their ideas come out.
3. Make your own toy out of clay
Sculpey
Craft stores sell a type of clay that hardens when you cook it in the oven ("Sculpey" in NZ, "Fimo" in North America). Sculpey even sellsglow-in-the-dark modelling clay! A bit expensive- around $7 for one block from Spotlight ($5 if you're a member) - but worth it for a special gift, as plasticine which stays squishy forever quickly gets ruined. I did have Troy practice on squishy plasticine first -
The dog in the photo below has glued on felt eyes as the eyes Troy made didn't stand out. Always fix screw-ups in a positive way - it teaches the kids that lesson. We
named him "Snifter" - as apparently he likes sniffing rear ends. The
horse I helped Troy with in your hand on the left we named "Spirit".
He glows green-white brightly in the dark.
3. Take them to the library
They need fuel to fire their imaginations. They won't have anything in their heads, ideas of what to make, without stories.
I remember when my mother first introduced us kids to the library - and all the worlds that were in there to be found. She just took us there and let us choose whatever we wanted, but also at times introducing us to great books.
Let the kids choose anything they are interested in. My mother would occasionally show me something she had heard of that was supposed to be good - famously, to me, C. S. Lewis's Narnia series. This series ended up being one of my ultimate favourite.
This is not a small idea - this idea is essential.
4. Make a creature or animal out of paper mache, then paint it.
The polka
dots on the dinosaur bank on the right (named "Polkadot") were all drawn
by Georgie (7) and painted by her. Then Troy painted the green back
ridges for Georgie, and added glitter. I was able to tie it all
together for her by filling in around the polka dots neatly, painting
with a bright sample of wall paint.
For
the dinosaur bank on the left ("Tiger"), I admit I took over and
painted it after Troy (7) got frustrated with marking the stripes. But
she gave lots of input. I mixed red acrylic paint in to the blue-green
colour I was using to shade the belly and feet. This project will definitely need your help. But there is lots for the kids to do themselves (like ripping up paper - and helping with paper mache - and painting). In the paper mache "piggy banks"
above (they have slots cut in their tops, and corks under their bellies) the kids have helped paper mache them with strips of newspaper dipped in PVA glue (white glue) and water. The base was a balloon, with toilet paper roll feet cut in halves. The neck is rolled and scrunched paper. Some wire was needed to provide structure and support to the
long neck and long tail. For more details on how we did it, click here.
We got this idea from a book based on the kids TV program called Art Attack by Neil Buchanan (ISBN 9781405307451). These dinosaur banks were called "beastly banks".
340g butter (room temperature or warm it up in microwave) 1 cup sugar 3.5 cups flour 1 capful vanilla 1/4 tsp salt 100g chopped dark chocolate
1 interesting silicon cookie mould - we were lucky to find this fabulous Butterflies and Bugs silicon mold at the Warehouse for $10.
Step 1- Premeasure ingredients, or measure on the fly, but have the kids take turns dumping them in. Step 2 - Once all the ingredients are mixed except the chocolate, it will be difficult for the kids to stir. First, get them to wash their hands! Then they can all stick their hands in to help combine the butter with the other ingredients.
Step 3- Squish the dough into the silicon mould, getting it into all the corners so that the cookies come out well. Leave a little space at the top for the chocolate bits. Sprinkle the chocolate all over the cookies randomly and press in.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (depending on size of cookie) at 180 degrees C (160 degrees C fanbake).
I have finally remembered that despite my own personal fine art inclinations - the best activities for kids are the simplest. The simpler the project, the more their imagination takes flight to fill the gap. For example, we used to pretend that these low L-shaped walls with siding on them along our front porch were horses. We had far more fun calling these our horses than we ever could have had with premade horses.
I saw a cardboard box with a door cut out of it at Troy's school, and some windows cut out with plastic panes inserted - and I thought it was brilliant. Not the window panes - just cutting doors and windows out of a box! I did this activity with the kids and they loved it. The house-making turned into making paper fans (inspired from my failed attempts at making them stairs). Then they each put a fan in the back of their pants for a tail, and held a fan in each hand, being "fantails". That was the most magic of all, and it was their idea.
I saw a link to making toilet roll pots for seedlings a little while ago, and I thought it was brilliant. You plant the seed in a toilet roll with the bottom folded up like the bottom of a box, and then when you plant the seedling you never have to take it out - you just place it in the dirt and the paper rots away without disturbing the roots of the plant.
Not only was it something I hadn't thought of at all - and I just love using objects for not-their-intended purpose - the tutorial had a really great sustainable recipe for making your own seed raising mix. More sustainable, in that it used coir instead of peat to prevent damping off.
Peat bogs are ancient, and they store carbon. Peat may store twice as much carbon as forests globally. Digging up peat releases the stored carbon. Go here to read a BBC News article on the importance of preserving peat bogs.Coirwas pretty new to me - so that was two great new ideas. One, make your own, free "jiffy pots" for planting seeds, and the other was the coolness of coir which I discovered when I used it. It's a lovely red fluffy fibrous substance that gives the soil lightness, or you can place it around trees in your garden for that forest floor feel.
The one thing I realized I did wrong was to not cut the toilet roll in half. I think a half size pot (like above photo) would have been better - for waste of the mix, and the seedling doesn't need that tall of a pot! (And many veggies prefer to be directly sown, like carrots and onions - so check first if it's an advantage.)
To make the pot: cut the bottom of the empty roll in four places. You will have created four flaps. Fold them up against each other - as you do the top of a box, each flap holds the next one down.
Then fill with excellent coir-based seed-raising mix below!
peat free (sustainably sourced) seed growing mix Mix together: - 1 part coir - 1 part vermicompost - 1 part perlite
I got my block of coir for only $5 from the local garden centre - and it yielded a huge amount of fibre when it was wet and broken apart. For my seed-raising mix, I only needed a chunk off the corner, which I then soaked in water.
I got my "perlite" from a local brewing shop. It was like popcorn rock - the kids loved breaking it into dust. According to Colleen Vanderlinden... "the coir provides water retention and bulk. The vermicompost provides nutrients to the seedlings, but, perhaps even more importantly, protects seedlings from diseases like damping off. And the perlite (light volcanic rock) provides lightness and helps the mix drain well."
Rainbow kid's chairs and table-top. The rainbow on top was painted by children! They stamped various stamps along my pencil guides.
I decided to buy a big can of water-based varnish - as the clear glaze I had been buying was really expensive. It did work! I was able to just painted with any cheap water-based paint, then seal it after since the varnish was water-based as well (i.e. not oil based). However, the paint did get "moved" by the topcoat, which was a pain. For the clouds on the chair - I did the chairs first - I just went with it and "repainted" the clouds to get the protective clear coat on. But I was wiser for the table, which I had the kids do - Troy and her friend. I mixed a bit of the water-based varnish in with their poster paints. That kept the paint immobile enough for me to varnish the heck out of it after. Although as always, learning by doing can be frustrating (the chairs), learning new methods is great - the kids table and chairs are now almost bombproof - and I have a flexible art painting method - as long as I have some water-based varnish.
A friend of mine's son just broke his arm, and had to stay as still as possible for a week while the bone set and the swelling went down.
After school Troy and I sat down and cut out a felt game for him - but she got to colour and influence the proceedings as well.
It is a great, low cost idea for kids without broken arms too. Thise simple toy/game idea is better for kids than fully completed plastic toys. Actually, the simpler the forms, the better for developing kids' imaginations.
The kids can mix the parts - put wings on cars, or horses - whatever you happen to cut out.
If you don't find drawing by sight easy you can do what my mother did - who wasn't an artist. She traced. She is where I got this idea from - I loved it when she did it for me growing up as a kid.
Mix together:
