Paper Mâché with kids

Here's a messy activity I did with my 6 year old and 2 year old.  We made paper mache cups.  We still need to paint them and maybe add a coat of glue or something to protect it a little.

What we used:
- 2 cups flour
- 3 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 disposable plastic cups
- strips of newsprint

We mixed together the flour, water and salt in a big mixing bowl.  Then I poured the mixture into smaller mixing bowls for each kid.  We dipped the strips of newsprint into the bowl, and tried to gently remove the excess before layering the strip onto our plastic cup.  We continued layering on more strips dipped with the paste until we covered the cups several times in different directions.  Then we let our cups dry for 1-2 days before I removed the plastic cup.  I just cut strips of the cup and carefully separated the paper mache from the cup surface.

It's probably easier doing paper ache with a balloon because you can just pop it and remove the balloon, but I didn't happen to have any balloons on hand that afternoon.  You can trim the top edge of the cup or leave it jagged.  We might paint or layer coloured tissue paper with glue/paste to decorate the cups another day.

I have a big water/sand tub table that we worked in and had a mat under that to catch drips that inevitably made their way out of the tub.  It helps to try to smooth out the strips of paper against the cup before layering more strips on top.  You get a stronger cup if there are less air pockets while you're layering the strips.  If you want stronger cups, you can use white glue instead of flour... but with little kids, I prefer sticking with the basics.


Update: Here are the cups we made after painting them and adding a layer of glue on top.

Making Rock Candy

Rock Candy Results:

Rock Candy Day 4 Update:

 

Day 4

After waiting for more than a week... here's the rock candy we made.

I forgot to update yesterday, but the crystallization process is a slow one. So you didn't miss too much.

Rock Candy Day 2 Update:

 

Day 2

I'm not entirely sure that there are any more crystals on the skewers today... but here's the picture (after about 31 hours).

Rock Candy Day 1:

 

Day 1

This attempt looks more promising.  The liquid is transparent and there are sugar crystals forming on the skewers.

Now we wait.

Making Rock Candy

Attempt #1

Our attempt #1 was a dismal failure because I went overboard on the sugar and the entire glass solidified into a chunk of sugar... I had to rinse it out with hot water and scrap the sugar out with a spoon.  I decided to give this experiment another try.

This time I modified the steps slightly and stuck to a 1 cup water: 3 cup sugar ratio.  I'm hopeful we'll get some rock candy in about a week.  I've read that it can take anywhere from 2-7 days.

What we used:

4 bamboo skewers
1 kettle
2 mixing bowls
4 long narrow glasses (I used shot glasses I picked up at value village)
4 hairpins (but if you have clothespin that would probably work better)
Koolaid (optional for colour and flavour)

What we did:

I dipped the bamboo skewers in water then coated them with sugar and set them aside.
I heated water in a kettle and measured out 1 cup of boiled water.
Then I added it to a mixing bowl.
I premeasured out 3 cups of sugar.
My kids took turns adding 1/4 cup of sugar into the water and stirring in the sugar until we used up the sugar.
We added a squirt of liquid Koolaid into 3 of the glasses and left one plain.
I carefully poured the sugar water into each glass.  You can use a funnel if your mixing bowl doesn't have a spout.
Next, I placed a skewer into each glass, raised it slightly so that it didn't touch the bottom of the glass and clipped the skewer (so that the clip rested on top of the glass and held the skewer in place).
Finally, I put the glasses somewhere where it won't get disturbed.

Spaghetti Hot Dog

Not the most healthy lunch idea... but it was quick and fun.  We had spaghetti hot dogs today.  They look a bit like centipedes.  I took out a handful of spaghetti.  We snapped the spaghetti in half and the kids helped poke the spaghetti through the hot dogs.  Then we boiled them in water for about 10-12 minutes.

Leaky Stonz Boots

A rain day calls for some serious puddle splashing.  I suited my daughter up into her Oakiwear rainsuit and put on her Stonz booties then we headed out.  So far our rainsuit has held up wonderfully.  It's her Stonz booties I'm disappointed about.  When we came home, the bottoms of her boots were completely drenched inside and the bottoms of her socks were soaked.  They didn't leak in from the top because the top was tucked into her rainsuit and were dry... The water seems to have seeped in from the bottom.

I peeled off her socks and promptly ordered her something else that I hope is actually waterproof.

Paper Tree

What can you do with a toilet paper roll?  I rolled up a piece of brown construction paper and slid it into the roll.

At first it was a telescope.  Then the boy wanted to do some cutting... so I had him cut one end of the paper in varying lengths and gently pulling some strands down.  Then it became a tree.  But he wanted leaves too.  So I folded a piece of green construction paper and cut out some leaves (with some leaves connected on one side), and cut slits into the leaves.  Then we just attached them to the branches and voila.  Instant tree.  If you shake the tree, the leaves will fall off.  I guess you can glue them in, but I didn't want to mess around with glue.

It's a quick fun activity and if you have a few more toilet paper rolls and construction paper, you can make a forest of trees.  It's very versatile.  Add some red, orange and yellow leaves for autumn.  Cotton balls if you want snow.

If you're creative, you can probably transform this into a christmas tree.  I envision using green construction paper instead of brown and feather cutting the branches to make pine needles.  Then making and adding decorations.

Ready-made GF Cookie Dough

I was at the Save-On-Foods grocery store earlier this week and noticed that Pillsbury has gluten-free options.  Excitedly, I bought the Gluten-Free Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and the Gluten-Free Pie and Pastry Dough.

The dough felt a bit on the greasy side, but it was quick to scoop out of the container and pop them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  I baked them in the oven for 12 minutes at 350F and they came out soft in the centre and slightly crispy on the edges.  My son didn't wait for them to cool completely before devouring one.  It tastes ok to me (which means it's sufficiently sweet enough for my sweet tooth and the rice four taste isn't too strong) but because they're so quick and easy to make, I would probably buy them again if I get a cookie craving and didn't feel like making cookies from scratch.  I'll give the pie crust a try next week and maybe use it for little tarts or something.

November 24, 2014: Follow up about the pie/pastry dough.  I used the Pillsbury GF Pie/Pastry dough to make 3 5-inch chicken pot pies.  It was easy to roll out but did fall apart a little when I tried to transfer them into the pie pans.  I cooked the filling on the stove top (cream of mushroom soup, with celery, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, peas and chicken), baked the shell of the pie crust at 400F for about 10-12 minutes, added the filling and covered the pies with dough, then baked for another 15 minutes.  It tasted ok (or as my husband likes to say "interesting" - turned out better than he expected - so it was edible), but it did leave an undesirable after-taste in my mouth.  I think we probably won't be using this dough again any time soon.  Sorry I didn't take any pictures.  I was running behind schedule, started making dinner late... and the kids needed to eat.

Lego panda

I rummaged through my son's room to gather some black and white pieces.  Here's my first attempt at creating a Lego panda.  I don't really have much time to build (uninterrupted) as I'd like but hopefully I'll find some time to make revisions or build different versions later.

Here's a link to my Lego moc page: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/398362