Crazy Kid Craft Ideas and Recipes: Expoding Marshmallows, Koolaide Paint and more!

Exploding Marshmallow Heads? Kool Aid paint? Mystery substance? I have five kids that I have to keep busy during the summer. Over the years, I've collected lots of great ideas and come up with a few of my own. Believe me, all of these are kid-tested not only with my five but with their friends and with lots of other moms I've shared these ideas with. Some of these ideas are not new, but with a little creative twist, like calling an experiment "exploding kitchen" you can get the interest of even your bored ten year old male child. How do I use these? I stock up on the ingredients (most of which are probably already in your kitchen) and then when I can sense boredom setting in, or too much video time happening, I pull one of them out and get the crowd involved in squishing scented play dough (the older kids can have fun making it with you too), or drawing faces on marshmallows and putting them in the microwave to watch what happens. If finger-painting with pudding is too messy for you, then have the kids finger paint the bathtub or do it outside. When mine were toddlers, I just kept them in the high chair for messy activities. Actually, I used a lot of these when I was cooking dinner to keep them busy. Enjoy and have fun! We certainly did when we pulled out all of these ideas to use again this summer.

Marshmallow Exploding Heads

My kids love to make these (and eat them!). When friends come over, it is a quick and easy way to get everyone having fun. Use non-toxic markers or food coloring (with toothpicks or brushes) to draw faces on large marshmallows. Put them on a paper plate and microwave a few seconds--we usually do about 10-15 seconds at a time. You will have to adjust this according to what works in your microwave. Set the time, start the microwave, and watch your marshmallow heads get bigger and bigger! Usually, they expand to 3 or 4 times their original size. If you use food coloring, the kids can eat their exploding heads afterwards. Sometimes, we make these into smores with graham crackers and chocolate. You can also use this to teach a little science.Marshmallows are puffed up with air and when you heat them in the microwave ,the air heats up and expands. The expanding air pushes the sugars in the marshmallows up, so the whole marshmallow gets bigger. When you take the marshmallow out of the microwave, it hits the cooler air of your kitchen and that cools down the air in the marshmallow, so it starts to get smaller. Depending on how long they are microwaved, the texture of the marshmallow changes too because the heat melts the sugars in the marshmallow. Who said science had to be boring?

Best Playdough is Kool-Aid Play dough—soft and scented

I've tried lots of play dough recipes and this one is the best. My kids love to work with it. When I worked with the church 2 year old Sunday School class, I would make this every month. It is very soft and scented. Kids love it. They can roll it easily with a rolling pin and cut it out with cookie cutters. If they want, they can air dry their creations although this dough is more for playing than making something to keep. 

Mix in a bowl:

2 ½ cups flour

2 pkgs. Kool-Aid

1 TB cream of tarter or alum

Heat in microwave for 3 minutes:

1 ½ cups water

Add water to flour mixture along with:

3 TBS. oil

Mix, knead well and store in a plastic bag or Tupperware. If your playdough is too sticky, you probably didn't heat the water enough. Don't worry! Just put the playdough in the microwave for 1 minute at a time. Then knead it when it comes out. Eventually, it will pull from the bowl and be really great playdough. The alum or cream of tarter keeps this playdough from spoiling or getting too sticky (like dough playdough will if you don't add it). However, if we aren't going to use it again right away, I sometimes keep it in the refrigerator.

Kool-Aid Paint smells wonderful and has vivid colors!

This is wonderful paint that is scented even when it is dry. Use Flavor-Aid for easier clean up (they do not have as much dye in them). Use Styrofoam egg cartons and put in each well a small amount of unsweetened Kool-Aid. Add a few drops of water and mix with a Q-tip or paint brush. Be careful not to add too much water. If you put just a few drops, the paint will be very vivid and smell great. Let kids paint with Q-tips on paper or cardstock. Often, I have the kids paint on cardstock that I cut into four pieces (about 4 by 5). Then I take their paintings and paste them on folded cards. These are wonderful cards for writing to Grandma or using for a birthday gift!

Crayon Resist Watercolors for beautiful paintings worthy of hanging

Crayon Resist paintings are absolutely my very favorite child's art project because they always look terrific. If you have a group of kids that need to do a project for a contest or for a gift, this is the one to do. It is very simple. Have children draw a picture or shapes with crayons or oil pastels. Oil pastels are also called Craypas and they are like crayons and chalk mixed together. They are softer than crayons and have vivid colors. They always make fabulous pictures and are even better for a crayon resist. Have kids use the crayons or Craypas to draw a picture of themselves, a holiday scene, a scene from nature (like flowers, fish or butterflies). Make sure they use the whole paper and make the colors strong. Next, have them use watercolors or Koolaid paint and a brush to paint on top of the crayon/craypa drawing. The crayon/craypa "resists" the water paint, so it shows through beautifully. Often, I just have the kids use one color to paint over. For example, using blue works for both a garden and an underwater scene. However, they can use other colors too. For a great 4th of July picture, have kids draw fireworks and paint over with black. You can use crayon resist with tempera and acrylic paint too, but you usually need to water the paint down a little bit so it doesn't cover the crayon.

Mod-Podge Collage for making a special treasure box or purse.

Kids can do lots of Mod-Podge projects using leftover scrapbook or wrapping paper or old magazines and glue. Have kids tear papers. Mix your own Mod-Podge by using 2 parts glue and one part water. Have kids use a large brush to put Mod-Podge on box or other object (some might prefer to put Mod-Podge on paper first). Then have them put papers on top of Mod-Podge, overlapping until the whole object is covered. Put the object on foil and then have the child use a brush to cover the whole thing with Mod-Podge. Parents can smooth out any wrinkles. Ideas of what you can make: 1. paper, then cut up to use as cards. 2. use cereal boxes to make a purse (cut off top flaps, cut out oval handles and score sides to make it fold up); 3. Use a tin can to make a pencil holder; 4. Use on old frames or wooden trays to make a nice gift; 5. Use on inexpensive photo book cover

Regular Collage

Give kids scraps of paper or magazines, scissors, glue sticks and a white piece of paper. You can also give those bits of foil, string and pasta. Let them cut up paper and then use glue stick to paste on. You can draw a simple shape ahead of time or else cut the collage into a shape afterwards if you want. If you cut these into 4” rectangles and put on cardstock, they can be cards.

I SPY bottle

Take an empty water bottle. Go around the house and find things that you can put in it. When done, fill the bottle ½ full with rice, sand or beans. Play I SPY with your bottle.

Rubbings

Take paper and crayons with the paper off them. Go around the house, outside or the park and look for flat things with textures. Put the paper on them and rub the crayon around to make a rubbing mark.

Exploding Kitchen

Take out some baking soda and some small cups. Go around the kitchen and put a little of different liquids in your cups. Add 1 tea. Of baking soda to each one and stir. Which ones explode in bubbles? Why? Those are the ones with acids in them. Taste to see if you can tell an acid liquid by taste. (Good liquids to include are anything with lemon or other citrus and vinegar)

Foil, Clay and Paper boats You can do this inside in a sink or outside. Make boats out of foil. Make different shaped ones. See how many pennies you can float on your boat before it sinks. Try using other kids of paper (regular white paper, cardstock, wrapping paper, wax paper) or modeling clay (the non-water soluble kind). What shape holds the most pennies? What type of paper holds the most pennies?

Jell-O Blocks

Make Jell-O according to directions but use ½ the amount of water. Pour liquid into an 8 X 8 inch pan and refrigerate until solid. Dip bottom of pan in hot water in sink briefly to make it easy to unmold. Cut Jell-O blocks with a knife. Kids can build wobbly towers.

Frozen Jello-0 Pops

Make Jell-O jigglers recipe and put in snack size zip-lock bags with some of those gummy creatures. Freeze them and then have the kids eat them outside!

Home Made Finger Paints

In saucepan, stir together and whisk over low heat for 5 minutes until thick and clear:

1 cup cold water

1/4 cup cornstarch

Whisk in and let cool:

1 TB light corn syrup

Divide mixture into bowls and squirt into each one: washable, nontoxic tempera paint (or Jell-O or unflavored Kool-Aid or food coloring). When paint is cook, scoop onto finger-paint paper and commence smearing!

Pudding Finger Paint:

Mix a package of pudding according to directions but add a little less milk so it is thicker. Let set. Give a glop to kids on a piece of paper. Let them squish it and swirl it around. This is a great way for them to start learning how to draw letters and numbers as well as just dots, lines and squiggles. You can also do this with whipped cream. We used this technique for teaching special ed kids different concepts like shapes, letters and numbers.

T-Shirt Repeat Painting

Take plain white T-shirts and paint on them with watercolor dot paints or watercolors. Wear—then wash! The color comes out and you can decorate again!

Mystery Substance I

--- Mix together:

1 cup white glue

¾ cup room temperature water

A few drops of Food coloring (optional)

--- In a separate container mix these together:

½ cup warm water

1 ½ tea. Borax powder (find in the detergent aisle of the supermarket)

Slowly pour the dissolved borax into the glue and water mixture, stirring constantly. This makes a slime-like substance that is endlessly fascinating to kids. It is really fun to see the glue mixture change. Keep this in a zip-lock bag and it lasts a long time.

Mystery Substance 2

Cornstarch and water

Fill a small bowl with cornstarch, slowly add water and mix until you have a thick paste. Play with it and notice what happens when you just put some on your hand and let it “melt” vs. when you touch it. This was something I learned to do when I was a kid. I just loved playing with this stuff. This is totally non-toxic, so you can let kids try eating it too (although it doesn't taste good!)

Bread Dough

Look at the link to the right to see my recipe for Bread Dough. Make your own bread in your bread maker or buy frozen bread dough and let it defrost. Give kids the dough to shape and play with. They can roll and cut with cookie cutters or make animal shapes. Let rise for 30 minutes. Cook what they make at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt or cinnamon sugar. We also sometimes put raisins or dried cranberries in it before baking. Or we call them "donuts" and let the kids dip in chocolate syrup, powdered sugar, or caramel syrup.

Pretzels—these taste good!

Do as above but cook this way. After the dough rises, boil 4 cups of water in a saucepan and add 5 teaspoons of baking soda (no aluminum pans). Lower the dough into the water and cook 1 minute. Take out with spatula and place on baking sheet. Cook at preheated 475 degree oven about 10-12 minutes. You can brush with butter and sprinkle with salt or cinnamon sugar or put on canned frosting. These are really fabulous right out of the oven and taste a lot like the pretzels you buy in the mall.

See my other Kids Cooking, Kids Crafts and Science Experiment Hubs for more ideas!