paint cut paste

the other day, N was in the mood for modeling, but our cans of store-bought play-doh were ka-put… so we whipped up a batch of our own play dough from ingredients we had in our kitchen. i consulted my trusty mudworks book to make sure i had the measurements correct for the recipe.

• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup iodized salt
• 1.75 cups warm water
• mix in a bowl, knead 10 minutes, play!

we got to work creating the dough. N helped every step of the way.

after we kneaded the dough for 10 minutes, it was a ball of potential energy waiting to become kinetic. (science nerdddd!)

anything is possible

and it did! N had lots of fun with cookie cutters and clay tools all afternoon!

(as earthy and homemade as we try to be, the longest stint in her play was when the little bear clay dude was “talking on his iphone to duck.” sheesh.)

little bear talking on his iphone, which clearly needs an earpiece so he can avoid brain tumors

we decided to bake a few of the cut shapes to make (what else?!) ornaments! (this really was not what we set out to do, but it just sort of happened. again. hey, it’s december…) i brushed each one with mayonnaise prior to baking at 300 for one hour. before putting them in the oven, don’t forget to poke a hole in the ones you intend to hang – straws work well for this.

the next day N painted the ornaments (and her fingers) with some sparkly acrylic paint.

once dry, we strung them with pretty ribbons and beads, and hung them on our tree. (well, a few were packaged in the mail to be delivered to the trees of friends and family… guess what you’re all getting this year…)

tiz the season for homemade ornaments… many of this web site’s loyal followers (thank you!) might remember when my little one and i made cinnamon playdough back in july. check it out, if you haven’t, as that is the first step to the process we are continuing here in today’s blog, made from a recipe in mary ann kohl’s mudworks book.

N and i pulled out the bag of baked cinnamon dough that we made in the summer, as it’s now time to add some color and personality to these lovely ornaments.

we used acrylic paint to paint designs and some names or words onto each ornament. after they were dry, i sealed them with a gloss varnish. i have to admit that the gloss varnish kind of flaked on some and dulled down the color on others. not the best choice, perhaps? when the varish was dry, we tied pretty ribbons (from our recycled ribbon stash at home) to the tops, as we had remembered to poke holes in them before they were baked.

and voila! handmade holiday gifts…  (bah, the whole next month of this blog will so spoil any surprise for our friends and family about what they can expect this holiday season.)

as many of you know, my family is in limbo until september (en)during a cross-country move, where all of our art supplies are neatly packed into a box on a huge moving truck zooming down a highway somewhere at the moment. so yeah, admittedly i did absolutely NOTHING to personally initiate this creative idea… but i thought it was a welcome touch of genius (on someone else’s part) and wanted to share.

tonight i took N, her little friend, and his momma out to dinner at a pizza parlor. much to the kids’ (and mommas!) enjoyment, the server brought over a ball of raw pizza dough for each of them to play with while we waited for our meals. how simple is that?

with the addition of "friends" brought from home, she could have done this for hours

N's friend makes animal tracks in the dough

pizza dough is super-clean to play with, and has much more staying power than four primary-colored crayons and a menu! so, you restauranteurs out there who are kid-friendly, consider passing out the dough!

we most often attribute the experience of making art to the sense of sight, but many of the most absorbing and pleasurable projects for young children engage two or more senses. making cinnamon dough is one such activity – it has the potential to engage all five senses, if you allow your kiddo a little taste, that is. today N and i made cinnamon dough together. she had such fun helping me to mix it, knead it, and then play with it.

mixing dough

kneading

the recipe:

you’ll need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 – 1 cup warm water
• bowl
• cookies sheets
• bread board
• plastic wrap

process:

1. mix flour, salt, and cinnamon in bowl
2. make a well in the center and pour water in well
3. mix with your hands until dough forms a ball (add water or flour as needed so that dough isn’t crumbly or sticky)
4. knead on floured board until smooth and satiny (about 5 min)
5. wrap in plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes before using
6. play!

you can use this as you would any play dough, and store it in an airtight container for future use. this dough resembles sand a lot, so we found it fun to make impressions of shells, and N pretended her tiny toy figurines were playing on the beach for quite a while.

playtime

shell impression

it is also fun to roll and cut this dough with cookie cutters. then bake it at 350 for one hour or until hard. you can sandpaper it, paint it, and varnish it when cool. these would make yummy smelling autumnal decorations, party favors, or holiday ornaments! (way to get a jump on that in the summer, eh?) here’s what we baked, soon to be painted for the season (way!) ahead.

ornaments or decorations

i am a big fan of mary ann kohl‘s art books for kids. this idea came from her book, mudworks, but my inspiration for making it came from my amazing art therapist friend and colleague. she works with terminally ill children in their homes through the hospice of metro denver. she is so creative in how she comes up with projects for these children that indulge their senses. i knew i had to try this project with my daughter my friend described bringing this clay over to the home of her client, a sweet little boy, and how he lit up just kneading the dough, feeling it squish in his hands, and smelling it repeatedly. it is these sorts of sensory experiences – tactile and olfactory – that make the most vivid imprint on our memories.