Forming Clay

(Flower made with this clay recipe.)

What You Will Need

2 1/3 cup flour
1 1/3 cup salt
4 teaspoons powdered alum
2 cups boiling water
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
mixing bowl and spoon



Instructions

1. Combine the flour, salt and alum in a mixing bowl. Mix well.



2. Very carefully add the boiling water and vegetable oil.



3. Blend well.



4. Knead until smooth.





Additional Details

The wet-clay should have a consistency similar to bread dough.



Alum can be found in the spice isle of better stocked grocers. It is a pickling spice and not always readily available. (Kid Buckaroo Craft Tip:You may substitute alum with cream of tartar, if necessary.)

This clay will last for weeks in the refrigerator, if stored in an airtight container or freezer bag.



Projects will take 48 hours to dry well.

An unpainted sample project made with this clay recipe and air dried:

Funny-Bunny-Linda Cake

What You Will Need

1 white cake layer (circle shape)
1 white cake layer (heart shaped)
2 tubs of white icing
red food colouring
2 green gumdrops
1.5 cups of shredded sweetened coconut
2 - 3 pieces of red licorice
1 piece of black licorice
sharp knife
icing spreader
small bowl
large rectangular serving tray



Instructions

1. Cut the circle-shaped cake layer as in the following photo. Set aside the middle bow-tie shaped piece of cake- you will not need it any further in this project. The outside pieces will be the bunny ears.



2. Put the heart-shaped cake layer on a large tray and lay the bunny ears in place.



3. Frost the cake.



4. In a small bowl, tint 4 tablespoons of icing with 6 drops of the food colouring





5. Frost the inside of the bunny ears with the pink frosting.



6. Sprinkle the entire cake with shredded coconut.



7. Decorate the face of the bunny using sliced red licorice for the whiskers, black sliced licorice for the curled mouth, gumdrops/cut licorice for the eyes, and a black 3/4" piece of black licorice for the nose.



This Funny-Bunny-Linda is perfect as a birthday cake, an Easter cake, or a birthday-near-Easter cake!

Mystery Gift Guessing Game

What You Will Need

a box with a lid
mystery gift (something sturdy, not easily broken, which will be the prize to the winner- in this example we are using a wooden-frog castanet)
length of string long enough to wrap around the box twice and tie



Game Set Up

In secret, place your mystery item in the box and tie the string around the box to secure the lid in place.



Give the children question suggestions, to help them understand how to play the game... such as "Can I eat the item?" "Do I play with the item?" "Is the item soft?" "Is the item colourful?"

You can decide if you want the answers to be 'yes/no' ones or if you want to give more detail to the children.

How to Play

1. Have the children sit in a circle. Pick a place to start, maybe at the youngest child, and give them the box to hold.

2. Chant together as a group:

What could it be?
What could it be?
In the box handed to me.

3. The child can shake, rattle, roll, and slide the box back and forth. Then the child gets to ask you one question about the contents of the box and take one guess at what the mystery item may be.

4. If the child guesses correctly, they get to open the box and keep the item. The game can be continued with a new item being loaded in the box.

5. If the child doesn't guess correctly, the item is turned over to the next player in line who repeats steps 2 and 3.



Additional Details

Some mystery item suggestions are a rubber ball, a bag of chips, candy, a small toy, a small book, etc.