Painting is always an all time favourite for kids. Puffy Paint is just so much better though! I made 6 different colours and decided to store them in squeezie bottles so that they are easy to use when painting. For those of you in the Johannesburg area, I bought the bottles at Westpack Packaging at the Lifestyle Centre for R3.50 each.
Puffy Paint Recipe
To fill a 250ml bottle for each colour you will need:
- 125ml flour
- 125ml salt
- 125ml water
- Food colouring of your choice
Mix all ingredients together and fill up your squeezie bottle.
Once your kids are done painting, leave their artwork to dry overnight
Kids love nothing more than a super cool science experiment. This experiment was no exception. Lava Lamps! Here are instructions on how to make your own lava lamps.
You will need:
- A bottle of tap water.
- A bottle of sunflower/vegetable oil.
- Clear plastic bottles (1 per child)
- Food colouring
- Effervescent tablets (I used Corenza C as it is a clear effervescent and inexpensive)
- Small jug.
To make your lava lamp:
| Step 1: Fill each bottle two thirds of the way with your sunflower oil. | Step 2 :Mix a water and food colouring solution in a small jug. You will need one for each different colour lava lamp you are making. |
| Step 3 : Fill your bottle till about 2 cm from the top with your coloured water and leave for 5 minutes to settle. | Step 4 : Break your effervescent tablet into 4 and drop each piece into your lava lamp bottle. Watch as it bubbles up into the oil. (NB!! Keep the lid off) |
I decided to take on a different approach to teaching Genevieve her letters and the phonetic sound they all make. Instead of the old fashion flash card, or making her write the letter over and over again until she remembers it, I gave her a ball of playdough (after making 8 colourful balls) and asked her build each of her letters with playdough.
She decided on her own to build both the upper and lower case letter. It was amazing to see how quickly she grasped the ones that she was a little uncertain of. I have tried so many times before with flash cards, yet the information seems to go in one ear and out the rest.
Not only did she get to learn the shape of the letter and the sound it makes. She had fun playing with the dough and developed fine motor skills too.
Here is the perfect playdough recipe for you to try at home:
1 cup cake flour
1 cup warm water
¼ cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
food colouring of your choice
food essence of your choice (optional)
Mix all the ingredients together in a pot and place on the stove on high heat. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon scraping from the bottom and the sides until dough forms. Remove the ball from the pot and immediately knead the dough until smooth. Leave to cool and place in a plastic bag to keep from drying. Dough can be kept for as long as it is soft (mine has kept for over a year in the past). It is also non-toxic so no need to worry if they eat it.
I use essence in my dough to give each dough a unique smell ie. orange essence in the orange dough, lemon in the yellow, peppermint in the green, almond in the white, etc. This just adds to the sensory experience.
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