10 HOMEMADE RECIPES FOR CHILDREN'S CREATIVITY

1. Modeling dough
Salt dough – a "material" that is very popular today and, most importantly, very easy to make. Dough can be given to the smallest children, and it's not a big deal if the little one eats a bit of it.
It's best to store the dough in the refrigerator. This dough is great for making various toys, including for the Christmas tree.

Recipe:
1 cup of flour
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of salt
2 tsp of food-grade citric acid (powdered)
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
food coloring

2. Clay
To make clay at home:
1 cup of cornstarch (1 cup = 240 ml)
2 cups of baking soda
1 1/4 cups of water (=300 ml)

Mix everything together until you get a smooth, homogeneous mass, then place it on the heat slightly above medium and, stirring constantly, cook the clay for about 10-15 minutes. You'll know when to stop – the clay will remain soft and seemingly undercooked, but at the same time completely non-sticky. Spread it on a surface and start kneading it until it cools down. That's it. You have obtained a snow-white, soft, and pliable clay.

3. Play dough or play dough
You get incredibly soft play dough:
3/4 cup of hair conditioner or balm
1 1/2 cups of cornstarch

4. Moon sand
It differs from regular sand in that it holds its shape like wet sand, but it is not wet and does not stick to your hands.

Recipe:
4 cups of fine (sifted) sand
2 cups of cornstarch or corn flour
1 cup of water
5. Finger paints

Recipe:
? cup of cornstarch
3 tbsp of sugar
? tsp of salt
2 cups of cold water
Food coloring

What to do:
In a medium saucepan, mix all the ingredients for the finger paints. Cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring the paint mixture until it becomes smooth and thick. After the paint thickens, remove the pot from the heat and cool the mixture.
After cooling, divide the paint mixture into containers depending on how many colors you would like to have. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring to determine the shade of the color. Now you can paint with your fingers! Store the paints tightly closed in the containers.

6. Puffy paint or dimensional paints
Puffy paint is a paint that is baked in the microwave and the drawing becomes dimensional.

Recipe:
1/4 cup (30 g) of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1/4 cup (70 g) of salt
5 tbsp of water
food coloring

Now take a thick sheet of album paper – it is important that the sheet is thick because the paint is quite heavy. And start painting. But not with strokes, but with dots. After your drawing is ready, place the sheet in the microwave for 30 seconds. And take out your finished masterpiece. The paint will bake and expand in volume.

7. Giant chalk
What you will need to make 3 pieces of chalk (if you want 6 pieces, double the proportions):

1. Empty cardboard tubes from toilet paper (3 pcs)
2. Scissors
3. Adhesive tape (scotch)
4. Wax paper
5. Mixing container (as many colors as you will make – that many containers)
6. 3/4 cup of warm water
7. 1 + 1/2 cups of gypsum
8. 2-3 tbsp of acrylic paints
9. Unwanted oilcloth (tablecloth)

Sequence of actions:
1. Line the tubes inside with wax paper.
2. Seal the bottom with tape to make cups.
3. Mix water with gypsum. Do this as quickly as possible, as the gypsum will start to set in 20 minutes.
4. Pour the mixture into the containers and add paint. Mix well.
5. Pour the resulting mass into our tubes. Gently tap the sides to release air bubbles; otherwise, the chalk will end up being porous.
6. Leave to dry. According to the author of this project, it will take 3 days to dry.
7. The chalk is ready! Let's draw.

8. Watercolor paints

Recipe:
– 4 tablespoons of baking soda;
– 2 tablespoons of vinegar;
– 2 tablespoons of cornstarch;
– food coloring.

Mix the soda and vinegar. When the soda dissolves in the vinegar, add the cornstarch. While stirring well, add the food coloring. If the paints turn out too thick, you can add a little water; if too thin, add cornstarch. To achieve a rich color in the paints, you can add more food coloring.

9. Homemade paints for drawing on asphalt
This is really interesting and fun for kids – drawing outdoors; of course, you can use traditional chalk, but many children prefer paints. For those who are hesitant to try for some reason, let me say right away that the paints turn out completely harmless; they wash off easily, both from asphalt and from the child's clothing and skin, and painting with them is a pleasure!

Recipe:
1 cup of hot water
1/2 cup of corn flour
A few drops of liquid soap or dishwashing detergent
Food coloring in various colors (these can be replaced with paints (for example, tempera) or natural colorants (like beet or carrot juice, blueberries)
Mix the water and flour so that no lumps remain; I did this in a blender.
Pour the mixture into cups and add the colorants. Try to assess the thickness of the resulting mixture yourself; it should be like batter for pancakes.

10. Air-drying modeling compound

Recipe:
1 cup of baking soda
1/2 cup of cornstarch
3/4 cup of cold water

In a pot, pour in the cornstarch and baking soda. Pour in the water and mix the mixture well. Place the mixture over medium heat and continuously stir, cooking our mixture until it resembles mashed potatoes. It is important not to overcook the cornstarch; otherwise, you'll get a sticky mass! Spread the mixture out on a table to cool. Once it cools down, knead it until it turns into a soft, elastic, non-sticky mass. This mass is incredibly pleasant; it even shimmers a bit in the light due to the baking soda.
That's it! Store the mass in a container where you will keep it and start modeling. You can make figures using molds for modeling dough or cookies. Leave the finished crafts to dry for several hours. After drying, the products become almost white. If the figure is large, it may crack, but that’s not scary. You can patch the cracks with fresh dough or paint over them.
White figures can be painted with anything – everything adheres well to this mass! You can also color the mass with food colorings, and then you can make figures without painting! Adding colorants did not affect the properties of the mass at all.