Go to the dollar store and purchase several packets of crayons and one heart-shaped muffin tin.

Take all the paper off of the crayons and melt them together over the stove. Pour the melted crayons into the heart-shaped molds and allow to cool.

Once cool, you have created heart-shaped crayons, a cheap and perfect gift for Valentine’s Day!

Related posts:

1. How to Make Paper-Mache
2. How to Make Self-Hardening Salt Clay
3. How to Make Cornstarch Paste

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup salt
• 4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon alum to preserve dough if the clay is not to be baked

How to Make Self-Hardening Salt Clay

In a large bowl, children can mix together the salt, flour, and alum if not baking the clay. Slowly add water, stirring until the dough balls up around the spoon. Children should then switch to kneading the dough much like bread. If the clay crumbles as it is kneaded, more water can be added.

This clay will harden as it air dries, but it can also be baked. To bake the clay, set the oven at 300 degrees F and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the clay is hard.

Encourage children to make Christmas ornaments or other small gifts as a cheap way to spread the Christmas cheer this holiday season!

Related posts:

1. How to Make Play Dough
2. How to Make Cloud Dough
3. How to Make Sawdust Dough

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water (or more as needed)
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups salt
• food coloring
• peppermint oil

How to Make Cloud Dough:

First, mix together the oil, flour and salt.

Second, measure out the water and add a few drops of food coloring into the water.

Third, gradually add the water to the dough, mixing thoroughly.

If additional water is needed, the dough will have trouble binding together. The dough should be smooth and easy to work with when it is the right consistency. A few drops of peppermint oil will help preserve the dough and can be added last and worked into the dough.

Encourage children to make a variety of objects with the dough. As this is great for young children, parents and teachers can use the dough to help teach shapes and sizes.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Play Dough
2. How to Make Self-Hardening Salt Clay
3. How to Make Cornstarch Dough

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons light karo syrup
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup water
• oil of wintergreen

Step One: Mix together the 2/3 cup water with the karo syrup and vinegar in a sauce pan. This mixture will need to be brought to a boil. *Please have an adult help with this to prevent burns from working around a hot stove*

Step Two: In a bowl, mix the cornstarch and 3/4 cup water. Slowly add this to the boiling mixture on the stove, all the while stirring to prevent any lumps from forming.

Step Three: Once everything is mixed together, it needs to sit overnight before being used. Adding a couple of drops of wintergreen oil will help to preserve the paste for around two months.

This recipe makes approximately one pint of paste.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Cornstarch Dough
2. How to Make Flour Paste
3. How to Make Sawdust Dough

In order to make flour paste, you will need the following supplies on-hand:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2/3 cup water
• oil of peppermint or oil of wintergreen

Step One: Mix the flour and water together. Stir well. The paste will develop a cream consistency with no lumps.

Step Two: Add a few drops of oil, which acts as a preservative for the paste.

This recipe will make approximately a cup of paste.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Cornstarch Paste
2. How to Make Cloud Dough
3. How to Make Flubber

Ingredients:

• flour
• salt
• poster paint
• plastic squeeze bottles

How to Make Homemade Squeeze Bottle Paint

Mix together equal parts of flour and salt to form the amount of paint desired. Divide the mixture into however many different colors of paint you have and mix paint in to form a paste. This paste should then be poured into the plastic squeeze bottles.

Children can then use the squeeze bottles to paint on thick paper or cardboard. This paint is heavy so be sure to not use regular printer paper.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Soap Paint
2. How to Make Finger Paint
3. How to Make Paper-Mache

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soap flakes (not soap powder)
• 1/2 cup cold water
• food coloring or powdered tempera paint

How to Make Homemade Soap Paint

Add the soap flakes to the water in a bowl. Using a mixer, beat this mixture until it is stiff like beaten egg whites. Add the food coloring or powdered tempera paint and mix thoroughly.

This paint is best used on thick paper or cardboard as it is a heavier paint. As a side note, glitter and colored sand will stick to this paint without the additional use of glue, so children can create wonderfully textured pictures.

Important note: Do not rinse this paint down a sink drain as it will clog the drain. Any leftover paint should be disposed of in a trash can.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Finger Paint
2. How to Make Cornstarch Dough
3. How to Make Flubber

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sawdust
• 1 cup wallpaper paste
• water

How to Make Sawdust Dough

Mix the sawdust and dry wallpaper paste should be mixed together thoroughly. Then add water slowly until the dough becomes thick and pliable.

The dough can then be molded into the desired shapes and left to harden over night.

It might be prudent to split the recipe in half if this is going to simply be an afternoon activity with one or two children. This way two days worth of fun can be had with one recipe’s worth of ingredients. This is a great way to enable children to feel the various shapes and create great projects.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Cloud Dough
2. How to Make Cornstarch Dough
3. How to Make Self-Hardening Salt Clay

Ingredients:

• liquid laundry starch
• powdered tempera paint or food coloring
• powdered soap flakes*

OR

• Flour
• cold water
• food coloring or powdered tempera paint
• powdered soap flakes*

*optional

How to Make Finger Paint

Making finger paint is quick and simple. Mix two parts starch with one part tempera paint if using the first set of ingredients. If no tempera paint is available, add food coloring as the paint is used on the paper.

If starch is not available, flour and cold water can be mixed together to form a paste and the tempera paint or food coloring can add color to the paint.

Adding powdered soap flakes can help to make the paint smoother and clean up easier. Be sure to use powdered soap flakes, not liquid soap.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Soap Paint
2. How to Make Squeeze Bottle Paint
3. How to Make Cornstarch Dough

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons oil
• food coloring

How to make Homemade Play Dough

With an adult’s help, the flour, water, salt, cream of tartar, oil and about a teaspoon of food coloring needs to be mixed together over medium heat on the stove. The dough needs to be mixed continuously until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool before kneading the dough for a few moments. Now the children can be let lose to play away, making shapes and objects and allowing their imagination to run wild. This dough is non-hardening but should be stored in an airtight container to prevent it from drying out.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Cloud Dough
2. How to Make Cornstarch Dough
3. How to Make Self-Hardening Salt Clay