Rainbow rice, Noisemakers, Find-a-things

I have been furiously organizing my house and found some stale rice in the back of my pantry. So naturally, I googled rice crafts. =D

 

The kids and I made RAINBOW RICE! It was so easy and fun! All you do is portion your rice into appropriate size baggies. Add several drops of food coloring (some recipes say add rubbing alcohol, but we didn't and it turned out just fine) and MIX. If you mix a little you get different shades of the color. If you mix a lot, it will be more uniform. Adding more than one color doesn't "mix" to make a new color, but it does look interesting!

 

Then you can air dry or pop it in a single layer on foil into the oven at 200 until dry.

 

Whe it's dry you can store it in baggies or containers or use it in a CRAFT. I put a mix of colors into a small plastic jar with lid (taped securely) for my Little One to make a colorful shaker. He carried it around all day long. For my Big Kid we did the same thing, only in a bigger jar and added a collection of small items (paper clip, marble, rock, tiny bear) to the jar. Now he has a DIY Find-A-Thing thing!

 

We sure had lots of fun making RAINBOW RICE!

Homemade Finger Paint and Mess-FREE painting!

Today the kids and I made homemade finger paints using this recipe:

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup cornflour / cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cups water + extra for thinner paint
• 1 tablespoon salt
• food colouring or tempera paint powder

What To Do:

1. Add plain flour, cornflour/cornstarch and salt to saucepan and only add 1/2 cup of the water. Mix into a thick paste.
2. Turn on the heat (gentle heat), and add 1 cup of water to the saucepan, mixing with a whisk to combine and prevent lumps.
3. Whisk continuously until paint mixture starts to thicken and then continue mixing with a wooden spoon.
4. Once paint mixture is thick and smooth remove from the heat.
5. Add another 1/2 cup of water (more may be needed) and mix thoroughly to combine. At this point the paint is ready to cool for finger painting.
6. For general kids crafts requiring a thinner paint, return to gentle heat and add more water - only adding 1/2 cup of water at a time and mixing thoroughly until combined. Continue adding water until you reach the required consistency.
7. If you get lumps, or find the paint hard to mix - use a stick blender to get the mixture smooth.
8. Once cooled, mix in the dishwashing liquid - optional. It will give the paint a smoother consistency and a glossy finish when dry.
9. Separate the paint into small containers and colour with small amounts of either food colouring.
10. Store remainder paint in the refrigerator for up to a week.

We did get some lumps, but my kiddos didn't care! I think next time I will add the whole 2 cups of water while cooking instead of after. This makes about 3-4 cups of paint! I filled three deep baby bowls (because they had lids!) and colored them yellow, red, and blue. Then we had to try them out!

For mess-free finger painting we put two generous blobs (different colors) into gallon ziplock bags. Freezer bags worked best because they are thicker and more sturdy. You simply tape the edges of each bag with masking tape to your table with a sheet of white paper inbetween. The kids mixed and smashed the colors together as we guessed which NEW color they would make. Then we drew with our fingers and smushed our handprints. It was tons of fun all day long!

Next time I want to try pudding paint. The little one was mad that he couldn't eat it. =) Pudding paint is very yummy!