10 fun recipes for kids

Salty dough

Salty dough can be used to make jewellery, pencil holders and trinkets and is very easy to make. First, you will need:

• 1 glass of water (with or without food colouring)
• 1 glass of salt
• 2 glasses of flour

Mix the ingredients with your hands until smooth and shape your pieces. To dry your creations, put them in the oven at 100 F for three hours or leave them on the counter for 12 to 24 hours.

Play dough

We’ve all tasted a bit of play dough to see it tasted like it smelled. If you want to make sure that your child tastes ingredients that you know, make it yourself! Here is a super easy play dough recipe. You will need:

• 250 ml (1 cup) flour
• 60 ml (¼ cup) salt
• 30 ml (2 tbsp.) de crème of tartar
• 250 ml (1 cup) water
• Food colouring

Mix your dry ingredients in a pan and add water gradually. Cook at medium heat and stir until your mixture easily comes off the sides of your pan. You will only need to let your play dough cool down and knead portions of it with disposable gloves to add food colouring and artificial vanilla, banana or orange flavours. If you keep your dough in airtight containers at room temperature, you can use it for several weeks.

Slime

Your children will love this gooey and slimy creation! You will need glitter glue, water and one tablespoon of borax. Mix one tablespoon of borax and one cup of water and keep your mixture. In another bowl, put the glue and dilute it with one spoonful of water. Mix your borax mixture with the glue and watch your slime become reality while the kids scream “WOW!” You will find borax in health food stores and pharmacies.

Papier-mâché

Making papier-mâché without using glue is kids play! You will need flour, water and an old newspaper cut in strips. Heat 5 cups of water until the water begins to simmer and add a creamy mixture made ​​of one cup of water and half a cup of flour. While your gooey mixture cools, prepare a shape to cover using a coat hanger or any other object that you like. Your child will slip strips in your mixture, squeeze them between his fingers and place them on the shape until it has the desired effect. Let your creation dry overnight and then paint and varnish it.

Sensory paint

Do you think Dali and Picasso would have liked painting with vanilla and cinnamon? Here’s an easy to practice sensory painting. Just take your favourite paint and add spices that represent the colors: vanilla white, cinnamon red, nutmeg brown… Let your children discover spices and they will recognize them as they paint.

Watercolour paint

You can make your own colors with kitchen ingredients. You will need white vinegar, corn syrup, cornstarch, baking soda and icing colouring. You will also need a bowl and an airtight container for every color that you make.

Instructions:

1. In each bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, ¼ tbsp. corn syrup and 1 tbsp. cornstarch. Stir until you obtain a smooth and thick mixture.
2.  Add color.
3. Put each mixture in separate containers.
4. Let dry overnight.
5. Give a brush, a glass of water and paper to your children so they can use they own paint.

Color foam

Here is a great idea to amuse your kids in the bathtub. Put a bit of shaving cream in each compartment of a muffin pan, add food colouring, mix and voila! You will obtain beautiful rainbow bath paint!

Bubble solution

Do you wonder why your homemade soap bubbles never work? It’s because you lack an essential ingredient: glycerine! To make the perfect solution, mix:

• 1/3 dishwashing liquid
• 4 cups water
• ¼ tbsp. glycerine

Erupting art

Here is another activity for the bath (before the real bath!) Put a bit of baking soda in a baking pan and add some Kool-Aid to it. Add a bit of shaving cream to keep your mixture together and let children draw with it. When they had enough, give them a spray bottle filled with white vinegar and watch their art erupt!

Ice age

For hot summer days, prepare this gigantic cube of ice where you will trap dinosaurs and any other creature you can think of. In a big pan, freeze one layer at a time and trap a few creatures in each layer. You can freeze different colours or create a gradient to give an illusion of depth.