Painting with Pudding & Other Fun

[JennyLiz]

It's the middle of July and I'm looking for some fun activities in the kitchen for my 4-year old daughter to beat the boredom & the heat. Last week we tried "painting with pudding" which was a huge success.

She helped me make instant vanilla pudding, divide it into 4 bowls, and I added food color. She sat at the table and "painted" a jelly roll pan (this helped contain the mess). She had a ball!

Next week we're going to make edible playdough (peanut butter, powdered milk, & powdered sugar). After that, I'm out of ideas... Any suggestions?

[Susann]

How about letting her decorate slice and bake cookies (with m and m, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.)? Sarah Moulton (on the Cooking Channel)says that those plastic serrated knives are safe for kids, so maybe that could introduce some ideas.

I don't have kids, I just used to work at a summer camp in a former life. If I can remember anything else, I will post!

[Susan]

You could use the pretzel recipe that was previously posted under "light snacks", make shapes, letters, etc., and then bake and EAT your creations. You might find some other ideas under that thread as well.

~~Susan~~

[Susan]

I had some more ideas...(I used to teach kindergarten and started remembering some of the food-related activities we did then.):

~read Clifford or other dog books and then make "dog bones" (no bake, made with peanut butter & powdered milk-I can try to dig up the recipe if you're interested)
~read Hansel and Gretel and then make gingerbread houses with graham crackers, frosting and candies
~make candy necklaces with thin licorice and candy and cereal (can't remember the book we related this too but If I Owned a Candy Factory-Stevenson by James Walker, illustrated by James Stevens is a good one)
~read The Gingerbread Man and make gingerbread men/women cookies


Here are some sites with more "cooking with kids" ideas:
http://www.weeklyreader.com/features/cookwka.html
http://www.goosie.com/
http://www.canadaegg.ca/english/child/kids.html


Another recipe that's fun to make and eat:

No-Bake Cookies
Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups quick cooking oats, divided
1/4 tsp butter
3 tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
Mix sugar, butter, milk and cocoa. Bring to rolling boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. (Add 3 cups oats, then gradually add more till consistency is reached.) Drop quickly by teaspoons onto waxed paper. Chill.

~~Susan~~


[This message has been edited by Susan (edited 07-16-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Susan (edited 07-16-2000).]

[Marcie]

I recently bought 100 cookie cutters for my toddler from cooking.com for $10. It includes the whole alphabet and all numbers, holidays, animals, sports, vehicles, etc. They're really neat, and would be a lot of fun for cookies, in the sandbox, with clay, etc.

[JennyLiz]

Susann, Susan, and Marcie- Thanks for the great ideas! We love books, so tying things into the "theme" sounds like lots of fun. I'm definitely going to check out the websites and the cookie cutters. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif JennyLiz

[Susan]

Another fun thing to do with cookie cutters is to use them with play dough. I used to make different colored playdough (made with flour, cream of tarter and a few other ingredients-safe if eaten!) and even added scents to it. My students really loved this!

~~Susan~~

[Beth]

My sons like to bake with me....anything they can measure and/or pour in, and love to knead and bash bread dough. Rolling is fun too (pizza crust, biscuits, cinnamon rolls?). Have you tried homemade pasta? Whether rolled by hand or machine, it's great fun and something every kid likes to eat.

A fun dough/clay to make is 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, 2 T oil, 1/2 cup salt, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 package unsweetened soft drink mix (Kool-aid), additional food coloring, if desired. Combine everthing in a saucepan and cook over med. heat until it starts to thicken, stirring constantly (wooden spoon recommended). When it almost comes together to form a ball, remove from heat. Turn out (floured surface in the instructions, but I've never needed to flour it) and let cool slightly before kneading to smooth out and enjoy.

I loved the painting with pudding idea, but don't know if I'd be that brave with my just turned 4 yr old (boy, all boy!). Have fun.

[karen w]

Beth, I love the painting with pudding idea too. But I also have a just turned 4 year old boy and a just turned 3 year old boy...and when the two of them play together, it is usually four times the noise, 4x the mess etc...I'm sure you get the picture. If I develop enough courage(or insanity to try it I'll let you know the results! Maybe vanilla pudding with big bibs on at the kitchen table. It just might work! The other day I chickened out. My 4 yr old loves to help me cook. I got the pkgs. of pudding out, but then the 3 yr old came into the kitchen (the trouble maker). I ended up letting them each dump pudding and milk into the bowl and mix. We poured it into custard cups so they could each decorate their own snacks for after lunch( chocolate chips, sprinkles, raisins, etc....) At least it was less messy. Let me know if you try it.

[comabri]

My 3 year old helps me clean out the fridge every couple of weeks - ingredients that there isn't enough of to use in anything else - bread just about ready to mold - leftover cooked pasta...

We take it all and make faces out of it - bread for the face, mozzarella cheese for hair, olives for eyes, mushroom noses, sun-dried tomatoes or red peppers for the mouth, macaroni for eyebrows. He loves it. (He often makes them look like my ex-husband - that's my favorite!)

Of course it all goes in the garbage - but it probably would have ended up there anyway. Hey - if you've got to get rid of it - why not make it fun?

[Beth]

JennyLiz, I came across another idea today at SmarterKids.com. It's kitchen, but not really food. Here goes:

Ice Cube Art
Materials Needed: ice cube tray, water, food coloring, and paper.
Help your child fill an ice cube tray with water and add red, blue, or yellow food coloring to each cube. Once the cubes are frozen, set the tray on the counter for five minutes. You can then allow your child to create "watercolor" paintings, using the cubes to draw with. As the cubes melt, the colors on the paper will blend and mix, producing new colors. Ask your child to predict what might happen when two colors are mixed, or ask her to create a specific color. A perfect project for hot summer afternoons, this art activity allows your child to explore colors in a very "cool" way.

[Beth]

here's another:

Popcorn on the Loose
Materials Needed: a large sheet of paper, hot air popcorn popper, popcorn kernels, ruler or measuring tape, and a measuring cup.
Spread a large sheet of paper on the floor of your kitchen, and have your child sit at the very edge. Fill a hot air popcorn popper with kernels according to the manufacturers directions. Without placing the lid back on, allow the popcorn to start popping. Remind your child to stay seated and away from the popper. He is sure to enjoy the fun noise and movement as the popcorn flies out of the popper. When the popcorn is done, you can discuss what happened with your child. Measure how far the kernels traveled with a piece of string and have your child compare one popped kernel to another. Talk with your child about how the kernels moved, and explain that the kernels pop when the water inside expands from the heat of the popper. Have your child describe what happened using words such as "high" or "far." You could also measure how many cups of kernels you have before they pop and then measure how many cups of popcorn are made.

[Katrina]

This hint may help those of you with very small ones who want to pudding paint, but you'd like to avoid a mess. I don't have kids (but plenty of nephews and nieces) but an elementary school teacher told me how she modified the activity for large scale implementation in her classroom.

Seal the pudding in a gallon sized plastic ziploc bag. When the bag is laid on its side on a table, kids can still manipulate it around by pressing the outside of the bag. Don't put too much pudding in the bag.

Or spread pudding on a metal cookie sheet and completely cover with wide plastic wrap, being sure to extend the plastic wrap under the cookie sheet and perhaps sealing it with tape. If you must use two pieces of plastic wrap to completely cover the top, seal them down the middle with clear Scotch tape.

These two methods may not be as fun as the real hands-in-the-pudding method, but maybe they will help contain the mess(?).

[JennyLiz]

I've been off-line for a few days, boy, does this bb have lots of interesting activity! Thanks for the new ideas! Beth, I wish we hadn't sold the hot air popper at our last garage sale, but we'll definitely try the ice cube art! JennyLiz

[Beth]

Originally posted by JennyLiz:
I've been off-line for a few days, boy, does this bb have lots of interesting activity! Thanks for the new ideas! Beth, I wish we hadn't sold the hot air popper at our last garage sale, but we'll definitely try the ice cube art! JennyLiz

My husband insisted on registering for a hot air popper when we got married, then we either gave away or sent it out via garage sale too. We tried the ice cube art with my two boys and my neice today. They thought it was great fun. They tended to use the cubes like crayons rather than dripping them as I had pictued.

You might want to use some plastic wrap or snack size siploc bage to hold the cubes. I now have 3 kids with multi-colored hands.

And finally, you get a lot of water on the page for the amount of color, so you need to do this outside or where you can deal with puddles on paper. Have fun!