kitchen fun Archives - Popsicle Blog

4/21/12

Homemade Earth Crayons for Earth Day

today, we made earth crayons out of all our broken blue and blue crayons in honor of Earth Week. so simple to create, but they turned out amazing. it’s just another way we can

things, instead of throwing them away.

what you need:

• blue & green crayons

• muffin tin

• oven

step 1

take the paper off your crayons and break them up into small pieces. i like to use light and dark greens and blues. you can also add white if you’d like.

step 2

arrange crayon pieces in muffin tin. try to place the colors to next to different colors. fill about 3/4″- 1″ full.

step 3

place into 300º degree oven just until they fully melt. (about 20 minutes) don’t let them stay in there too long or else the colors will mix up into one color and the wax will start to smoke.

step 4

let completely cool. i let mine cool on the stove top for 15 minutes and stick in the fridge for 15 minutes and they pop right out. whala!

{participating in Funky Polka Dot Giraffe & Creation Corner linky parties }

Posted by Jill | 4/21/12
Filed Under: Craft, Earth Day
Tagged With: Earth Day, Earth Week 2012, Homemade Earth Crayons, kitchen fun
13 Comments

8/27/11

Back to School: Melted Crayon Art

since i am having to completely redo the house from the flood we had a few months back….i have been trying to create a more playful atmosphere around here. i like things eclectic, and a bit quirky. so the boys and i made these melted crayon art pictures to hang on the wall. what kid doesn’t like to see things melt into beautiful streams of color. seriously cool and super simple.

make your own

melted crayon art

what you need:

• crayons

• got glue gun

• cardboard cut to size

• blow dryer

• frame (optional)

directions:

• glue crayons to the cardboard using hot glue

• lay your cardboard at an angle (approximately 45º)

• using the lowest speed and hot/warm setting, start melting the crayons.

• you can manipulate the wax drops as they start to fall by angling the blow dryer or adjusting the angle of the cardboard.

• let cool

• the great thing about this art piece is that you can make it any way you want, and no two are the same.

{participating in i heart naptime, funky polka dot giraffe, ta da tuesday, get your craft on, tatertots and jello & skip to my lou linky parties}

Posted by Jill | 8/27/11
Filed Under: Craft
Tagged With: back to school, kid crafts, kitchen fun
21 Comments

8/2/11

Magic ink.

wow….i just blinked and it’s already august! due to us being out of our house until now, there has been very little time to take the kiddies to some of our favorite summertime destinations. but, now that we are moved back in(yippee), i’ve decided i needed to get the kiddies out on some adventures….and i need a break from unpacking all the boxes (only 27 left!).

so, to make the day a little more exciting, i gave the boys this piece of paper. i told them that it would tell them where we were going.

but it’s blank!!!!!!!

no boys….it’s not blank….it has magic ink.

magic ink?!?!?!

yep….a little ironing can take care of that!

tada! we’re going to Adventure Playground…one of your most favorite places in the world!

simple…..yet so much fun.

Magic Ink
all you need to make your own secret messages is:
• lemon juice
• brush, q-tip or your finger
• paper
• hot iron

write a message on a piece of paper with the lemon juice. let dry. to make your message appear, use a hot iron. and tada! magic ink.

Posted by Jill | 8/2/11
Filed Under: Craft
Tagged With: kid crafts, kitchen fun, summer activities
1 Comment

6/25/11

Kiddie Fun: Painted Sandcastles

well, it’s been the first official week of summer for us. we spent the week pretty much preparing ourselves to start summer. i finished all my outstanding jobs for Jill Parkin Designs, we made final decisions for repairing our flooded home (we are still living in an apartment nearby) and started swimming lessons for my middle kiddie. i feel soooo much better and am very excited to finally be able to have an enjoyable summer. (i have made the decision to finally limit the invitation business….a hard one, but much needed). now the fun will begin.

anyways….we decided to celebrate by going to the beach to enjoy some ~~fun in the sun~~ june gloom. the water was cold, but the kiddies loved it? and we built sandcastles with our sandcastle kit and we even painted them….

painted them!!!!

yes. we used spray bottles filled with spray chalk solution and colored our ~~sandcastles~~ mounds of sand. the kiddies loved it. even baby.

how to paint your sandcastle

ingredients
• cornstarch
• food coloring
• spray bottles (got at walmart for $.97)
• water

directions
in a spray bottle mix a 3-4 tablespoons of cornstarch per 1 cup of water and food coloring. the more cornstarch you use, the more the color will show up on the sand. but you don’t want to use so much that it clogs your spray bottle. add enough food color so that the color shows up. and that’s it.

p.s. you can use this as sidewalk chalk spray paint as well!
(i have found that the small spraybottles only hold enough solution to last a short time and I had to fill them up a bunch of times. next time i will skip the cute bottles and get the industrial ones.)

happy painting!
jill, jack, kyle & baby

Posted by Jill | 6/25/11
Filed Under: Craft
Tagged With: crafty mommy, homemade sidewalk chalk, kid crafts, kitchen fun, Sandcastle Kit, sidewalk chalk spray paint, summer fun
10 Comments

2/2/11

Salt Dough Conversation Hearts

okay, so i lied. i do have some cute hearts in my house! the kiddies and i made some Salt Dough Conversation Hearts to decorate for a fun Valentine’s Day craft and to decorate our home. we had fun making them and they turned out kinda cute. it was a great hands on craft for the kiddies.

wanna make some? here is how we made them…..

salt dough recipe
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup salt
• food coloring

other things you’ll need
• ribbon
• red marker
• cookie cutter
• scissors

directions
• heat oven to 250º.
• mix the salt, water and flour till you make a dough. the dough should be similar to sugar cookie dough consistancy…you can add more flour till it is right. (but don’t eat it! ha ha).
• separate dough into balls and knead in a few drops of food coloring into each until you get the desired color.

• roll out the dough out on a floured surface. use cookie cutter and cut out your hearts and place on a cookie sheet.
• make a hole at the top of the hearts to thread the ribbon through before you bake. (i found this out the hard way)

• bake for 1-1/2-2 hours until your hearts are hard. be sure not to burn them!
• use a red marker to write on your hearts.
• thread ribbon through the holes, hang up and enjoy!

(i probably should have been more carefully writing the words on the hearts. they are a little messy…..but i guess i can’t always be a perfectionist.)

Have fun!