paint cut paste

last week, i was inspired by tinkerlab’s beautiful post on rainbow play dough. i used to make play doughs of all kinds frequently before our household became gluten-free in july 2010. since then, i have not made a batch of play dough because gluten-free flours are quite spendy! i’m hesitant to bring wheat flour into my kitchen for fear of contamination (i’m gluten intolerant) so i just sort of put a hold on the dough making… until now.

after the tinkerlab post, i inquired on facebook about gluten-free play dough recipes that wouldn’t break the bank, and one of my wonderful facebook followers, emily, offered up this simple recipe: (thank you, emily!)

• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tsp cream of tarter
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp cooking oil
• Food coloring, if desired (i like the wilton gel icing colors)

Mix ingredients. Cook and stir on low heat for 3 minutes or until mixture forms a ball. Cool completely before storing in a sealable plastic bag or tuperware.

so we began our experimentation with this recipe today. i plan to also try out a gluten-free play dough crock pot recipe next time, also offered by a facebooker. i doubled the recipe, and added a little sensory twist. i thought it’d be fun if each color dough had its own scent, so i broke out my essential oil stash to add into the mix.

i mixed the ingredients together (without color or scent) in a large pot until it looked like this.

then i divided the dough into five parts, one for each color we wanted to make.

then i added a bit of the food coloring to each ball and knead it in my hands to distribute the color. this temporarily put some concentrated color on my skin, but it came right off with soap. your kids can do this part, too.

because N wanted “springy eastery pastel colors” i didn’t add a lot of food coloring to the dough. when i added the color, this is also when i added the essential oils, matching color to scent.

• pink = rose
• yellow – lemon
• green = eucalyptus
• turquoise = peppermint
• lavender = lavender (though the lavender color is a difficult one to get. ours was kind of muted gray.)

this activity really enlivened the senses of sight, smell, and touch!

i have heard that gluten-free play doughs are often gritty. this recipe was not gritty at all! in fact, the texture was quite smooth and almost like a sticky wax. the stickiness was our only complaint. i’m wondering if they will be less sticky once they are stored for a bit…? we’ll see.

play dough residue = sticky fingers

when we were finished playing (and doing lots of sniffing) for today, we stored it in a plastic sealed container for a bit. i wish i had 5 smaller canisters for it since each has a different smell, but i’m not out of butter, yogurt, fresh mozzerella, or parm yet to recycle those tubs for this purpose. so as of right now, they’re brewing their own special fragrance in that container. whooo weee!

happy rainbowy, gluten-free, squishing & smelling!

today is N’s 4th birthday – happy birthday to my sweet little artist! last weekend, per her request, we had a rainbow art birthday party. i was THRILLED at her choice of party themes, as i, myself, had a rainbow birthday party for my fifth birthday – the same year i coerced my parents into painting a rainbow on my bedroom wall and getting me rainbow sheets, while blasting “the rainbow connection” 24/7. anyway, i thought i’d share a few (well, quite a few) images from our party preparations and the party itself.

we created waldorf kite paper rainbow stars for window decorations for the party, using garden mama’s tutorial. N loved doing this, and now has them in her bedroom windows. (if these composite images seem too small to see details, click on them to open the larger version.)

another item we made for the party is a rainbow striped picture frame. i got a large, inexpensive, lightweight wooden frame at ikea, and we painted it so that it could be a prop in a “photo booth” area at the party, where i hung rainbow fabric as a backdrop and let the kids hold up the frame. a huge hit!

N and i also created shrinky dink nametag pendents for the guest’s gift bags. N had a great time decorating each kid’s nametag with colors or a theme that she knew they’d love. the nametags are necklaces that each child can wear on rainbow yarn.

the gift bags were filled with rainbowy fun toys and art materials, including some homemade snowflake (winter bday) rainbow crayons that we made like the heart ones from last valentine’s day. (you can see them in the post just before this one.)

for the party, we provided light snacks and cake, as it was between lunch and dinner, and we had 20 kids (plus parents) there! as a surprise to N, i created two different rainbow cakes. the first was a 7 layer ode-to-ROY.G.BIV cake, ordered properly according to the chakras, of course. i saw the idea on one charming party.

it turned out to be so awesome inside!

i made a second rainbow cake, which was a psychedelic swirly rainbow cake, just two layers. i saw this idea on omnomicon, but i did *not* make her sprite/weight watchers version. i just followed the cake box recipe.

on both, i kept the icing simple and just made cream cheese icing (1 8oz package of cream cheese, 1 stick of butter, and 1 lb powdered sugar, a little vanilla.) i had to triple that recipe for these 2 cakes. my talented baker friend over at bliss bakery created a dozen gluten-free, vegan rainbow cupcakes for our guests with dietary restrictions.

in addition to some good ol’ pirate booty, i made a rainbow layered fruit salad. i left out the candy – cake offers enough sugar!

since it was a rainbow ART party, of course we had a few art stations. one was a place where kids could create watercolor initial paintings, like N did when she was two years old in this post.

we also had a model magic table, with the primary colors of model magic, along with white. the kids had fun with this modeling medium, and it’s not at all messy!

we also had a table where i rolled out a large doodle roll sheet of paper and offered a couple buckets of crayons so the kids could work on a mural together.

we found that playsilks make for beautiful window decor…

and helped to warm up the entry area. (p.s. – this isn’t our home. it’s my friend’s condo’s clubhouse room.)

the kids had a ton of fun… and let’s be real. there was more running than art-making at the art party.

the birthday girl had the most fun of all!

one of my favorite things about autumn are the beautiful, variegated ears of maize that grace the farmers markets. their jewel-like colors are always inspiring… and this year they inspired jewelry.

if it were not for crow rooster crow, i wouldn’t have known it was possible to bead with corn, but i saw this supercool idea for making an indian corn necklace and had to put it into action.

N was thrilled to help pop the kernels off the ears of corn. she spent an entire day (off and on) working on one of the ears. this is a great task for little hands, unless you have one of those weird ears of maize where the kernels are sharp. (we had one of those and it so wasn’t possible for her or me to pluck that one.)

after all kernels were off the cobs, it was quite satisfying to even just play with a huge bowl of the seeds. this material alone makes a colorful filler for an autumn sensory box for toddlers and up.

the next step was to soak the kernels in water to soften them a bit so they can later be punctured by a needle. i chose a handful of the seeds to soak, as i wasn’t ready to use them all at once. (we ended up with zillions!) the blog where i saw this idea said this may take “a few hours” but i soaked ours for about 24 hours (only because i didn’t have a chance to get back to them until a day later.)

i chose some random thread and a needle from my sewing stash, and drained the water from the kernels. then i began to string them onto the thread. it was easier than i thought it would be.

the white part of the kernel is easiest to pierce.

pardon these dark rainy-afternoon photos

stringing the necklace was very satisfying. while N couldn’t use the needle and thread herself, she sat beside me, cheering me on excitedly as she watched her necklace take shape.

the idea is to make this as easy as possible… use a LONG piece of thread so you can just tie it together after the strand is long enough to go over your little one’s head. i didn’t have too much forsight on this one, so my thread was too short, and i ended up having to put a clasp on this necklace so she could take it on and off because it lacked a bit of length. luckily, i’m a beader and had those things on hand, but it would have been easier had i thought about this in advance, so i’m telling you now so you can learn from my mistake.

once it was complete, N was thrilled to try it on. she said it looked like “what a hula dancer would wear in the fall.”

we have so many more jewel-like kernels that i’d love to make a multi-strand harvest necklace for myself, and perhaps a bracelet for N.

who wants a good reason to go to the dentist? who wants to get those pesky baby teeth outta your 3-year-old’s head a couple years early*? we do! we do! we do… apparently. woah, i think my memory of caramel apples is either way off base or caramel apples have gotten stickier over the past few decades. anyway, i bought a gross kit of caramel apple circle thingies at a gross grocery store (aka: a random one by my house that’s not whole foods) because i thought i’d be a fun, festive, fall momma if i did that. WRONG! (<–said in charlie murphy voice.)

it seemed so idyllic at the time of purchase… autumn breezes blowing (um, it’s 95 degrees today in the bay area, but whatever,) fall leaves falling (or dandelion weeds sprouting in my yard,) and delicious organic apples coated in yummy sugary goodness (unpronounceable chemicals.) my intentions were good. i brought the kit home and hyped it up to N.

we followed the easy instructions on the package (this would have been so much more blog-worthy if i’d made caramel myself, huh? oh well.) and stretched the small circle of sugar over our gorgeous fuji apple.

well, getting sticky was fun

then we baked it in a 200 degree oven for 5 minutes, and cooled it in the fridge. it looked delish.

with a gluten-free graham cracker on the side

we decided to share just one apple (thankfully.) i started it for us, and immediately locked my teeth together on the caramel. i figured i must have gotten a particularly heavy bite. i found a less caramel-saturated spot and invited N to bite it there. she was obviously grappling with the same sticky caramel issue. i had to dislodge it from the roof of her mouth with my finger. for some reason, we kept taking bites, thinking it’d get better.

it didn’t get better. so much for that. we had a teeth-brushing party together immediately after this. sigh. i think we’ll stick to (no pun intended) plain ol’ apples over here.

*no baby teeth were actually lost in the creation of this blog.

is your mouth watering already? on a spring trip to harley farms in pescadero, ca, i tried the tastiest goat cheese i’ve ever had in my life – lavender honey goat cheese. this got me thinking that i should look into making some lavender honey ice cream in my ice cream maker at home. so we did.

we grow organic lavender in our backyard… the same lavender we have been using for lavender wands. it’s not technically culinary lavender (which i think you can get in a box at wholefoods?) but i figured it’s good enough. we grew it, we do not spray our yard, it’s organic. N helped me to harvest the lavender as it is beginning to dry out, while we dodged the bees the entire time.

we hung a bit to dry in our kitchen for several days while i researched recipes. i found one on epicurious.com that seems to be quite universal, as it is repeated on so many other web sites exactly the same way. so we tried it out. here tiz:

ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 tablespoons dried edible lavender flowers
• 1/2 cup light honey
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

method:
cook the half-and-half and cream on medium heat until warm, do not let it come to a boil. turn off the heat, add the lavender to the pot, cover and let steep for half an hour.

after flowers have steeped, strain the liquid and discard the flowers. add to the liquid the honey and heat on medium low until honey has dissolved. again, do not let liquid come to a boil!

beat the egg yolks with the vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt. stir into the eggs 1/2 cup of the warm liquid and then add the entire egg mixture back to the pot.

heat this on medium low for five minutes or until it gets slightly thick. you’ll know it’s ready when it coats the back of your spoon. (honestly, mine got a little curdy and didn’t stick to the spoon even after a long time heating, but i proceeded anyway.) cool in the refrigerator for four hours. freeze and churn according to your ice-cream maker’s instructions.

this makes a quart of ice cream… though i thought it tasted more like a custard than an ice cream. some people find the lavender taste to be kind of soap-like or incense-esque. admittedly, it is quite strong, but i enjoyed the super-rich treat! to be fancy, you can serve it with a drizzle of warm honey and a sprig of lavender. yum!

someone loved it... down to the last drop!

a handfull of my friends have little ones who have recently celebrated their first birthday. along with new experiences of toddling around and mastering some words, they are also ready to begin some early art-making experiences. a few moms have asked me what i first did with N in that realm. this sent me back through my memory and my zillions of photos of my wee little teeny N-bear.

playroom 12.5 months

generally, the very first art materials are those that we refer to as “pre-art materials.” this basically means they are safe items that can either be digested (such as beans, whipped cream, or dough) or that are large (such as building blocks, balls, bowls). they promote tactile experiences and are used for sensory-motor stimulus, and are great for kids between one and two years of age. pre-art materials are still useful beyond the two-year-old mark because they reinforce the sensory experiences that a child is discovering, and since children at this stage can become easily frustrated, pre-art materials may provide them with a sense of mastery over the art task.

N was a kid who, at around 9 or 10 months old, loved to hold the stems of two leaves in her hands everywhere we went. then two drumsticks from her toy drums. which evolved into two fat crayons, one in each hand, with which to make her first marks. often, two or three crayons were in each hand, making marks together.

15 months

she loved the cause and effect of being able to create a mark… to make something on the page! how powerful that must feel for the first time, for a brand new being to assert herself and push pigment across paper and watch what happens! she was sold.

15 months

as you can see in the photo above, we have always loved taping off the borders of the page — not only does it keep the paper from wobbling all over the place for early artists, but it also creates a lovely frame around abstract scribbles.

14 month scribbles by N (bottom pastel rainbow by me)

we ventured into the realm of homemade dough as we got closer to 18 months old. mostly she just loved to mush it around, pull it apart, squish it, feel it, poke it with straws. she would command certain things for me to make for her like balls, snowmen, various animals, and then manipulate them, while cracking up, after i created them.

playing with dough at 20 months old

and always, sandtrays, water tables, and natural materials found outside are great for exploration… (keep an eye on where sticks and rocks end up at this stage, of course.) have fun introducing these tiny artists to their own creative potential — it truly knows no bounds!