Ideas: Play-doh recipe, salt tray, old crayons

[Laura M]

Recipe for play-doh

My 2yr old loves play-doh and my mother in law gave me a recipe to make it at home. Some of you might already know about this recipe but I didn't and was excited to make it...my kids think it's cool that we make our own play-doh too! I thought someone else might find it useful so here it is:

1C. flour
1/2 C. salt
2tsp. cream of tarter
1T. oil
1c. water

cook & stir continuously over med-high heat until it forms a ball, then knead in food coloring. I store it in zip lock bags.

[lyntley]

We LOVE homemade playdo.

Another neat thing to is to add a few drops of essential oil to it.

[claraskids]

We use the same recipe, too, and it works great!

My dd loves to experiment and we've found that a packet of Kool-Aid mix also works great for coloring and gives it a nice smell. We do the main mixing in a large Ziploc bag to avoid any finger stains. Once its mixed well, the Kool-aid will not leave any stains on anything. Believe me, my daycare kids have tested that theory well!!!!

[Mom2MnS]

I have what may be a silly question...How do you make a salt tray for beginning letter formation for a pre-k'er? I'm wondering how deep the salt should be. Is it just a little on the bottom of a pan, so your finger touches the bottom when you write? Or is it suppose to be deeper so your finger is always touching salt when you write? Also, how big of a pan works best? Something like a sandwich size tupperware, or 8x8, or 9x11? I didn't make one for my ds at this age, but I would like to now for my dd.
Dawn

Hi Dawn :) We used a bright red, heart shaped plastic valentines goodie dish (about the size of a round cake pan) - lol! I put enough salt to be "deep" enough to be fun for my dd, but she was able to write down to the red pan easily. The bright red pan made the letters she made easy to see. Blessings to you!

[cbollin]

We've been using a cardboard box lid. This year, we're trying to use a clear plastic "shoe box" size container. And using rock salt (coarse stuff).

I like the idea of a colorful tray. I might have to try to imitate that.

-crystal

[club190]

I have gone through all the school supplies - my goodness, how did we get so many crayons???).

Amanda,
Crayons are like books, which are like rabbits -- they multiply when you turn the lights out at night!

But seriously, I think we end up with so many crayons because there's just something special about a brand new box of them! But after you use then for a while a few get broken, then the box gets torn, then the paper gets peeled off some others and you end up tossing them all into a shoebox and head out to get another brand new box. It's an endless cycle, really. After 15 years of homeschooling I'm convinced that we need to have a support group to help us stop the annual crayon trek.

Blessings,
Chris

[cbollin]

Is there anything cool to do with the old crayons?

I, too, am about to go buy a brand new box of perfect crayons, and once again will be faced with what to do with all of the old yucky ones.

Can you melt them to make crayon candles or something?

here's one way to make crayon candles
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/candle ... aycand.htm

Uses for old crayons
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf666289.tip.html
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resou ... led-crafts
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resou ... yon-crafts

lots of ideas on the 'net

[Poohbee]

I love the crayon discussion. There is just something special about a new box of unbroken, all the colors available, new wax smelling crayons. Even a crayon sharpener doesn't make up for a new box.

I had to laugh at all of the messages about crayons! It certainly IS fun to buy new crayons for a new school year, isn't it? I just got rid of a bunch of old crayons we had to make room for the new.

My dd was in a summer art camp, and they asked for donations of old crayons, glue, etc. So, I thought I'd suggest for those who want to get rid of old crayons, perhaps see if a daycare or something needs crayons. Just an idea.

[Cyndi (AZ)]

We have a bazillion old crayons! I can't believe we moved them across the country. *sigh* I love the idea in one of those links to melt them down in foil lined muffin cups in the oven to make chunky crayons. Most church pre-schools would love to get a donation of fun chunky crayons. We tried to make a crayon candle a couple of years ago and it was not a good experience. Someone more crafty than I may do fine with that, but it was downright scary to me - both the process and the looks of the final product!

[meagabby]

I love the idea in one of those links to melt them down in foil lined muffin cups in the oven to make chunky crayons. Most church pre-schools would love to get a donation of fun chunky crayons. We tried to make a crayon candle a couple of years ago and it was not a good experience. Someone more crafty than I may do fine with that, but it was downright scary to me - both the process and the looks of the final product!.

We once made heart-shaped crayons from our old crayons. Use a rubber (silicone?) pan and they popped out super easy.
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crayon-hearts-671639/

We even mailed them to out of state friends... huge hit at our house. You might try it for the next valentine party!