Plastic Dough

This cold weather has us searching for some new fun things to do inside and the other day we made some plastic dough. It was a lot like play dough - which is always fun.

Plastic Dough

6 drops food coloring
1/4 cup white glue
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water

-Mix white glue, water and food coloring in small bowl until well blended.
-Combine flour and cornstarch in separate bowl.
-Mix both combinations together until dough forms.

Cowboy Eggs

Seth and I were looking through a kids cookbook the other day and he just had to make this as soon as he saw it. I have seen this called many other names but we grew up calling it a cowboy egg, so I think we'll carry on the name. (We weren't as fancy back then, with the cookie cutters. We just tore out the center of the bread.) It's so easy! Here is what we did:

• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Spread margarine on a piece of wheat bread.
• Cut the center out with a medium cookie cutter.
• Crack egg into center of bread.
• Bake until egg is firm.

This method worked great but I think next time we'll do it the way my dad always did - on the stove top!

Play Silks...Finally

I bought this silk from Dharma Trading way before Christmas and never got around to dying it. Seth and I did it together the yesterday and it was super easy. After reading about 10 different methods, this is how we dyed the fabric:

Mix 2 packets of Kool-Aid with 1 cup of white vinegar. ( I think next time I would do 4 packets for the yellow.) Add 2 cups very hot (almost boiling) water and stir in 1 yard of silk. It's amazing how you can literally see the silk drinking up the color.

Once most of the color has been soaked up from the mixture, rinse under cold water, one by one, ringing until it runs clear.

Hang to dry.

I didn't use gloves and dyed my hands orange too!

The silks turned out great and Seth has already been having fun playing all sorts of creative games and make believe with them. (I have too!)

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Dip

Easy, Peasy! Mix 2 8oz packages of cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla extract until fluffy. Stir in 3/4 package dark chocolate chips. The recipe called for graham crackers to dip with but we used Granny Smith apples instead. The sour with the sweet was yummy!

Magic Muck

I found this recipe in a book called The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions and Seth LOVED it! It was described as a mysterious concoction that turns from liquid to solid and back again. He played with it for a loooong time and was thoroughly engrossed. He kept singing, "Magical muck, magical muck..." I must admit I was fascinated with it as well. It was super easy to make too. We mad a huge mess while playing with it. It cleaned up pretty easily but we'll probably take it outside next time. I thought it would store like playdough...WRONG! I put it in a plastic container but when we pulled it out a few days later it was moldy. Yuck!

Here is how we made it:

• Mix 1/3 cup of water and 5 drops of food coloring (optional - Seth's fingers were green for a day or so!) in a small bowl.
• Slowly add 3/4 cup of corn starch to water but do not stir.
• Let mixture stand for 2-3 minutes.
• Play, play, play.

Snow Cream

We made a batch of delicious snow cream and served it family style. Mark and Miles didn't want to eat it because "snow is dirty" As far as I'm concerned, It's better that what comes out of the tap! We used fresh, fluffy, clean snow and it was yummy. We packed up some and delivered it to Aunt Stacy too. The sugar was a bit grainy which actually made me think about dirt a little bit! Ha! I think next time we will steam the milk with the sugar and then cool it while we play/gather snow to avoid the graininess. Hopefully, next time will be next year.

Seth was double spooning it!

I heard this recipe on the local news.

Ingredients:
1 Gallon Fresh Clean Snow
2 Cups Milk
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Combine milk, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Pour over snow. Mix and enjoy!