Making Two Kinds of Slime

As I said in my last post, we've been reminiscing about old projects, experiments, and recipes in my blog books from Blog2print. This time my daughter wanted to make slime again after seeing the post here.  Not only did we make that kind of slime, but we also made a different kind of slime too. Keep reading to find out the 2 types of slime we made.

Recipe #1 Slime:

Mix in one bowl:
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup white glue
few drops of food coloring

Mix in a second bowl:
1 1/3 cups warm water
4 teaspoons Borax
(Borax is found in the laundry section.  ****Borax should not be ingested and can cause skin reactions with some... so use your discretion!)

Pour contents of first bowl into second bowl and let sit for one minute without stirring. Then explore Slime #1!


Recipe #2 Slime:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup white glue
1/4 cup liquid starch
few drops of food coloring

Pour all glue in mixing bowl and then add water.  Stir water and glue together.  Add food color.  Then lastly add starch. Then have fun with Slime #2.


Making the two kinds of Slime was fun in itself and this time my daughter could actually read the recipe, so making it a great reading activity and science experiment too.

We compared and contrasted the two kinds of Slime as we were playing with them:  Slime #1 was
more rubbery and Slime #2 was smoother and more squooshy.

Then very soon after, both slimes were mixed together....which ended all comparisons. (But it did prove that yellow-green and blue make green!)  Plastic bugs made a great companion for the slime play.

C covered the bugs with slime, tore it into tiny pieces, stretched it, and pressed bugs into it to make impressions. Slime makes for such creative and FUN play with endless possibilities.

Hope you are inspired to try out both recipes for Slime. 

 Do you know any other recipes for Slime?

Family Recipe: Houska Braid Bread

I was so proud of myself for making this Houska Braid Bread for the first time ever.  This is one of those handed down recipes from my "Baba" (or Grandma) that she would make for Easter and Christmas each year.  I actually made it as a gift for my Dad for his birthday which was at the end of April and he loved it! Apparently after researching on the internet I found this out to be a traditional Bohemian Bread.  My Baba was Bohemian which made perfect sense to me.

Here is the recipe:

Houska Braid Bread

(makes 2 loaves)

1 cup milk scalded

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup cream

4 eggs (beaten)

2 pkg. yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm milk

2 tsp. lemon rind

1/2 tsp. mace

8-9 cups flour

1 cup yellow raisins

1 cup chopped blanched raisins

Scald milk and add butter, sugar, cream, and eggs.  Add to the yeast mixture.  Mix in lemon rind, mace, and then add flour, raisins, and almonds.  Knead until smooth.  Place in greased bowl and let rise until doubled.  Punch down and divide in half.  Divide each into 3 parts and braid. (great tutorial on braiding bread here.)  Bake at 350 degree for 40 to 45 minutes. I brushed the top of the bread with an egg wash too.  Enjoy!

What are your favorite handed down family recipes?

Halloween Slime Exploration

We made Halloween Slime!  Some people call it Gak, but since Halloween is coming up we thought Slime would be a more appropriate name!  We also colored it orange by mixing red and yellow food coloring!  Maybe next we'll make some Black Slime! Keep reading to find out the recipe for slime and all the other FUN C had with it!

Recipe for Slime:

(we got the recipe from Family Fun Magazine here)

Mix together 3/4 cup of warm water, 1 cup of white glue and few drops of food coloring (we used red and yellow) in one bowl.  In another bowl, combine 1 1/3 cups of warm water and 4 teaspoons of Borax (this is usually in the laundry detergent section of the grocery store).  Note: Borax should not be ingested and can cause skin reactions with some----so be careful---use your discretion! Pour the contents of the first bowl into the other bowl and let sit for 1 minute without stirring.  Now you are ready to EXPLORE!

C enjoyed mixing it up!

C enjoyed just kneading it pushing into it!

She had FUN feeling it with her feet and stomping on it (making pancakes)!!! (her idea!)

C added her Water Beads and creatures to it!  She played with this combination a long time!  Be sure to check out our Water Bead Fun post here if you want to know more about these AMAZING sensory Gems!

Lastly, she tried out cutting the slime with scissors and that was a Big Hit too!

Wouldn't it be FUN to have a batch of water beads and slime out for kids to feel for a Halloween Party?

Have some Slimy Halloween Fun!!!

This post is linked to: It's Playtime, No TIme For Flashcards, Monday Madness

Bath Crayons or Not???

We had so much FUN making these Bath Crayons!!!! Unfortunately,  they never really worked very well when writing with them!!! ) :  They left very faint marks and made Cassie totally disinterested! If anyone has anyone input....let me know what I could to improve them?  I tried it twice....first with Ivory soap, and then with a Glycerin Soap....both FAILED!

First the directions were to grate the soap and C absolutely LOVED this part! Her hands even got tired!

Mix one cup of soap flakes with 2 tablespoons of hot water.

Divide mixture into 6 parts.

Add the food coloring and mix! Then roll into cylinders. Let dry for a few days!

They looked really Beautiful,  but again they did not show up very well.  I tried more food coloring and it still did not seem to make a difference!

If you have had success with making your own Bath Crayons...please let me know!

I'm excited to find a recipe that will make crayons that work!!!!!

So Simple Non-Dairy Fruit Smoothie

My daughter LOVES Smoothies!!! We make them all the time and especially when the weather is warmer. The recipe we follow is great because it just involves just fruit and fruit juice. No dairy! The frozen bananas we use in the recipe make the smoothie creamy and thick rather than using yogurt.  The great thing is if you ever have too many ripe bananas you can throw them in the freezer for future smoothies instead of throwing them out. Here is Cassie watching all the fruit and juice mixing in the blender.

Here are the ingredients for the smoothie:

1 cup of apple or orange juice

2 to 3 fresh or frozen bananas

1 cup of fruit (we used strawberries, blueberries, and peaches)

a blender

First, Cassie put all the fruit in the blender. 

Then she poured all the juice in.

Next, put the lid on the blender and blend or puree.  Can you tell C likes to use the blender?

Lastly, enjoy your DELICIOUS Smoothie!  YUM!

I'm sure we'll be making more smoothies again soon! Maybe with pineapple, mango, and raspberries! It is FUN to experiment with different fruit combinations!

What have you been making with children in the kitchen lately?

Our Own Edible Arrangement

I've always seen these edible arrangements that you can send to people for special occasions and always think, "I could do that!"  If you have never seen these amazing arrangements check out this link here!  We created our own edible arrangement and it is much harder than you might think.....I give the folks at ediblearrangements.com a lot of credit!  I'm sure they have a lot of tools to work with that would make it a lot easier to make a more elaborate arrangement.  Ours turned out more like a kebab arrangement,  but still beautiful!

First, I gathered all the fruit pictured here and then washed and cut up the fruit.  I made flat slices of the melons to try cookie cutters on.

I saved some of the bottom of a pineapple for the base to poke everything into.

Cassie began by making cookie cutters slices of watermelon and cantaloupe.  This was a little tricky because the watermelon easily falls apart!

Then C began putting the variety of fruit items on kebab sticks!

As you can see C mostly loved the strawberries! Mom did a few too!

Here is C with our finished arrangement! Not bad for amateurs! 

What kinds of edible art have you made? Please share!

This post is linked to:

Summer Fun
Craft Schooling Sunday
No Time For Flashcards

Microwave Kool Aid Play Dough

We made play dough and love this recipe from Cassie's preschool! It says you can add a scent, but we used unsweetened kool aid for the scent and color of the play dough. I like the idea that it can be made using the microwave too.  We don't drink a whole lot of kool aid here, but have used it for homemade popsicles. Some of the flavors add a nice scent to the play dough too. I don't know if C was fond of all the scents, but it was a fun way to mix up the recipe a bit.

Here is the recipe:

(we divided it in half to make more colors)

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Salt

2 Tablespoons Oil

4 teaspoons Cream of Tartar

2 Cups Water

Food coloring/Scent (We used unsweetened kool aid)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the oil and water in a microwave safe bowl until it is almost boiling.  Add the food coloring. (we did not add food coloring for color--- we added the kool aid  powder with the dry ingredients) Mix the liquid and the dry ingredients together. Once the mixture has cooled, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and soft.

Here are the flavors/colors of kool aid that we use for our kool aid play dough: Cherry, Orange, Lemonade, Lemon-Lime, Ice-Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and Grape. ***For the Lemonade color we use added a little yellow food coloring because it was so light. Grape is a little dark, but the scent is good.

Here is C mixing the dry ingredients and the Ice-Blue-Raspberry Lemonade powder for blue play dough.

Here is C carefully mixing in the wet ingredients! (Careful because it is HOT!)

After the play dough kool aid cooled, we knead the play dough and it was ready for playing!

Here are some play dough snails in each color with tooth picks and googly eyes added in! Cassie's favorite scent was the Cherry! This was the best, I agree!

Here are her play dough monsters and C found some popsicle sticks to add in to the FUN!

We've been having some more kool aid fun so stay tuned for some future posts!

This post is linked to:

No Time For Flashcards

Craft Schooling Sunday

Monster Linkie Party

Making Lemonade

Since it has been quite warm here lately we've been making lemonade! This is one of Cassie's favorite beverages. Whenever she sees that I have lemons she wants to make lemonade! Everyone Loves lemonade on a hot day!  Here is Cassie squeezing the lemons with our antique juicer from Sunkist!

More lemon squeezing going on here! We have this cheap orange juicer, but it just doesn't work as well!

Now we poured the lemon juice into  a cup for Cassie and one for me! About the juice of one lemon for each glass.

Now we added some water to each glass....very carefully!

Next we added some sugar. Doesn't this girl look like she needs some lemonade? Red cheeks!

After adding the lemon juice, water, and sugar Cassie stirred the mixture about ten or so times. You can see her counting on one hand!

Next add some ice...

Lastly, add some slices of lemon...

Add a straw and you are ready to drink! DELICIOUS!

Here is the drawing that was in the making as we were making lemonade! Family Portrait!

What simple recipes have you made with children lately?

This post is linked to:

WE PLAY
SHOW AND TELL
IT'S PLAYTIME
HIGH PAW

The Little Island

We've read this book, The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown many times, but finally did a little project along with it that went over really well! This book is an oldie, but very well written and illustrated.  We actually own it too! We made our own "little island" out of map dough, cardboard, and natural materials.

First we mixed up the recipe for Map Dough:

1/2 cup flour

1 cup salt

Water to moisten

Then we divided the dough into 3 separate balls to create 3 colors.

We used food colors (more or less to your likening)

You could use a piece of cardboard for the base/ water of the island.  You could either paint the cardboard blue or cover it with blue paper. I happened to have a blue piece of matte board to build on which was perfect!

Now you can start building your island by taking the dough and pushing it down on to the cardboard. You could form other land formations like hills and mountains.  Cassie wanted to build holes!!!

After you have your island formed, we used Cassie's nature collection of pine cones and rocks. We also added in shells and other odds and ends.

Cassie really enjoyed this part of adding all the natural elements.  This island was getting quite overloaded! She was having fun though!

Here is Cassie's mostly finished island with some plastic glass elements added in.

In the end Cassie added plastic insects and dinosaurs to her island too! This island inspired some imaginative play with adding Mom's old toy boat sailing around the island!!! Cassie had much enjoyment creating the island and playing with it too! It turned out better than I thought it would!

Has any of your children's art inspired imaginative play???

This post is linked to:

CHILD CENTERED ART PARTY
IT"S PLAYTIME
KIDS GET CRAFTY
A STORY + ART
READ EXPLORE LEARN
WE PLAY
SHOW AND TELL
RESOURCE CENTRE
HIGH PAW
PRESCHOOL CORNER
THE PLAY ACADEMY
FUN FOR KIDS FRIDAY