Toddler Watercolour Art Project

Parker and I spent part of our rainy afternoon yesterday creating a hanging piece of art. A few nights ago I was reading Rhythm of the Home and came across a neat art idea.

So I mixed up some watercolours and prepped a painting space for him and away we went! He had a hard time with the scotch tape (had I used masking or painter's tape as suggested it would have been fine) so I laid the tape down. The rest was all him:

Gluten Free Playdough

It's no secret that I love playdough but when we discovered that Parker doesn't tolerate gluten, I was saddened to learn that his wheat playdough days were over.
But then I saw GF playdough being sold on etsy and then I realized "of course!", I can make my own! The texture isn't the same, it's bouncier if that makes any sense and it was lots of fun to play with. We've been experimenting with scents such as apple pie and chai tea.

No-Cook GF Playdough
2-3 cups all-purpose GF flour
1/2 c salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbls vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water

Mix ingredients together in a mixing bowl, adding in more flour if sticky. You can add food colouring or extracts/spices etc for scents.

To make the Chai Playdough, follow recipe as above but substitute 1 cup of boiling water with 1 cup of strongly brewed chai tea (minus the milk and sugar of course). You can also add in some chai spices such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom,, etc. if you prefer a stromger scent.

To make the Apple Pie Playdough, substitute 1 cup boiling watwe with 1 cup hot apple juice. Add in 1 tsp apple or pumpkin pie spice.

Enjoy!

Window Painting Fun

Parker loves to paint but he quickly fills up a piece of paper in mere minutes. So instead of wasting sheet after sheet of paper and in my quest to find anything to give me a few minutes break I set him up with some paints outside on our deck so he could paint our patio glass windows!

I just mixed some tempera paint with a few drops of dishsoap in a cup, gave him some paintbrushes and let him loose on the windows. He was entertained for half an hour... that's alot for a not yet two year old!

To clean up, all you need is a bucket of water and a wash cloth. It comes off so easily because of the soap added in to the paints.

I *heart* playdough!

Playdough is a huge hit with my toddler and to be honest, I love the stuff too. I find it's very therapeutic to squish in my hands, very destressing! I make playdough about every two to four weeks and I really can't figure out why people bother buying the stuff when it's SO simple to make!

Here's some of my favourite recipes for homemade playdough:

Basic no-cook Playdough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tsp. cream of tartar (you can find this in the bulk section)
4 tsp. oil
2 cups boiling water.

Mix dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add oil and boiling water and mix until combined. Turn over onto counter and knead together, careful though as it may still be hot. You can add more flour if needed.

You can add a few drops of food colouring or even a package or two of unprepared Kool-aid for some colour (the kool-aid also adds a yummy scent). Add a few drops of your favourite essential oil to make it smell good or add glitter, sand, etc for texture. My favourite add in for playdough in the winter is to leave it white but add some silver glitter and some mint extract.

For toys, I have in our bucket some rolling pins, small dull knives, a muffin tin, cookie cutters, scissors (although Parker is still a little young for scissors), popsicle sticks, sea shells, twigs, small rocks, etc.

Go ahead, make up a batch today for both you and your little ones. I promise you'll have just as much as they will!