Supplies:

• 1/3 cup quick-setting plaster of paris
• 1 tablespoon powdered tempera paint
• 3 tablespoons water
• Toilet paper mold or any candy mold
• Plastic container for mixing

Instructions:

1.   Mix plaster, powdered tempera paint and water together in a disposable plastic dish until blended.

2.   Quickly spoon the mixture into the toilet paper tube (sealed at one end with masking or duct tape) or into your candy mold.

3.   Let dry for at least 45 minutes.

4.   Peel the paper tube away from the stick of chalk or pop out of the candy mold.

Sometimes it’s the simple things that turn out to be the best and this art project fits the bill.  Swirl paints look like magic when you make them and are sure to amaze your kids.  Try framing them or mounting them on a black background to make them really ‘pop” or create a set of unique notecards.  We got a little carried away and even tye dyed a shirt.  So much fun!

Supplies:

• Styrofoam plate
• Shaving cream
• Food coloring
• Pencil or stick
• Card stock

Instructions:

• Fill a styrofoam plate with shaving cream and smooth t top.
• Add 4-6 drops of food coloring around the edges.
• Use a pointed stick or old pencil to swirl the food coloring through the shaving cream. This will create the marbelized pattern for your paper.
• Press your paper gently on top.
• Wipe the excess shaving cream off your paper using a blotting motion (don’t wipe or you will smear the print).
• Then just print again.
• If the swirls get muddled, use the stick to re-swirl them. If they get really messed up, rinse off the plate and start again. 

Supplies:

• White paper
• Black tempera paint
• Crayons
• Dish detergent
• Pencil or blunt instrument for drawing

Directions:

1. Color white paper with crayons making sure the entire page is covered.  Tip:  Draw a square on the center of the paper and then cut it out when finished.  This is an easy way to make sure that the edges are colored.
2. Mix black tempera paint with dish detergent to a ratio of 1/4 cup black tempera paint to about 1/2 tsp of regular dish detergent and apply over the drawing.
3. Allow to dry.
4. Scratch a design with a pencil or other blunt instrument.

If your children like painting – they’ll love to learn how to make their own fat paint.  What’s fat paint, you ask?  It’s a mix between puff paint and 3D paint.  It comes out as a thick, three dimensional paint and I’m sure you’ll think of lots of uses for it.

We used it to draw crazy squirrley designs and names on their All About Me books for school.  We added some corn syrup to the recipe to make it a little shiny.  You can also add some glitter.

Supplies

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup salt
• powdered tempera paint
• empty container with a lid (for storage)
• squeeze bottle

Directions

1. Stir the flour, salt and water into a container with a lid until well mixed. Note:  We used an empty bubble bath container so our paint ended up with a ginger and cocounut fragrance.  You can also add some corn syrup to make the paint shiny, glitter, or fragrance oils.
2. Pour the fat paint into the squeeze bottle.  We made a funnel out of a baggie by cutting a small triangle out of the corner and putting the fat paint into the squeeze bottle and then squeezing the paint into the bottle.  Didn’t know there was going to be so much squeezing going on, did you?
3. Squeeze your fat paint onto your paper or project and let it dry.  It will dry fat and raised. 

Children love the feeling of squishy things in their hands and here’s a great craft recipe to create your own squishy craft medium for toddlers to play with.  Keeping it in a sealed plastic baggie keeps the mess at an all time minimum.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of water
• 4 tablespoons of cornstartch
• Food coloring
• Ziploc bag

Instructions:

1. Boil the water.
2. In a separate bowl, add the cold water to the cornstarch and make a paste.
3. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the boiled water. Cook and stir until thick. Add food coloring and allow to cool.
4. Pour into a Ziploc bag and seal. Children will enjoy the feeling of squishing the bag without being able to open it.

Supplies:

1. cup of salt
2. cup of flour
3. cup of water
4. bowl
5. drops food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix salt and flour thoroughly by hand with a spoon.
2. Add food coloring to water.
3. Add colored water dry ingredients and mix.
4. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (not sticky).
5. Play or seal in a Zipper bag for storage (should keep for a few weeks).

Here’s a fun project to reuse and recycle old bits of broken crayons.  It’s a good way to demonstrate to your child how recycling works.

Supplies:

• 1 – kitchen knife
• 10 – used crayons (or more)
• 1 – Mini-cake tins (heart pans work good too)

Instructions:

1. Parents can use the knife to chop crayons into pea-size pieces (be careful to keep colors separate so kids can combine them).
2. Preheat the oven to 150°.
3. Fill the tins with crayon pieces.
4. Bake 15-20 minutes until the waxes have just melted.
5. Remove the shapes after they have cooled. If they stick, place the tray in the freezer for an hour and try to remove again.

It’s easy to make your own art medium for arts and crafts projects with easy to follow recipes. Here’s one for slime for some really gross fun!

Supplies:

• Wax paper
• Borax
• White Glue
• Water
• Food Coloring (optional – we used pink)
• Ziploc bag

Slime Recipe

1. Cover the table with wax paper.
2. Add 1 Tbs. of borax (approx 4% solution) to 1 cup of water.
3. Stir until completely dissolved.
4. To make a 50% water/white glue solution. Take 1/4 cup of each and mix thoroughly.
5. Add 1/2 cup of the borax solution to 1/2 cup of glue/water solution.
6. Add a couple drops of food coloring.
7. Place in a Ziploc bag and knead the mixture.
8. Have fun!

Note:  Keep your slime in the sealed bag in the refrigerator when not playing with it to keep it longer.

©2007 Fun and Easy Crafts, LLC. Fun craft of the month clubs at www.KraftyKid.com.

Permission granted to reproduce this for classroom and personal use only.

It’s easy to create paints and other craft mediums with easy make at home recipe.  Here’s one for finger paints:

Supplies:

• 2 – tablespoons of sugar
• 1/3 c. cornstarch
• 2 c. cold water
• ¼ clear dishwashing liquid
• Food coloring

Instructions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients and slowly add water.
2. Parents – cook over low heat until the mixture looks like a gel.
3. Let cool and then stir in liquid soap.
4. Add food coloring for specific colors.

Note:  (Don’t use it the tub unless you want to spend time cleaning it off w/a powdered cleanser.)