From DIY Glitter Fail to Coloured Sand

One of my pet peeves when it comes to doing certain crafts with my kiddies is the cost of some of the craft supplies. This does not appear to be as much of a problem for the fortunate folks in America who pick up fabulous deals for a couple of bucks, but here... some things are nearly impossible to get your hands on (wooden blank discs, freezer paper, Lakeshore Learning products, etc), and some are just expensive.
Glitter is one of the latter.
Shopping at The Reject Shop or Sam's Warehouse may cut craft costs in a lot of other ways, but even there two little vials of fine glitter (the size of your thumb) will set you back $3. Considering how much glitter kids like to use, I'd need to buy about half a dozen vials for a single project... that's $9 worth of glitter! You've got to be kidding me!
So, when I saw a post on Pinterest about DIY glitter, I got so excited!!

Attack of the (Eden shaped) Cookie Monster!

Over here at Casa Happy Little Munchkins, the eldest Miss Munchkin decided that we were lacking in the baked good department, so we tackled some super-easy, super-tasty cookies!
Mumma Munchkin is SO proud! All I did was instruct Eden on what needed to be done, and put the baking trays (ie: cookie sheets) in and out of the oven. She did the rest herself, and the results were delicious! Actually, the results quickly became nothing more than crumbs on plates and full tummies.
Try this recipe, you won't be sorry you did. Although, your waistline may not thank you for it...

Stuffed Jacket Potatoes: yummy yummy!

We are in the throes of Autumn here in Australia, and the air is getting chill. It's the perfect time of year to make Stuffed Jacket Potatoes to keep you warm!

 

This recipe is a fave in our household 'cause it ticks all the right boxes: Tasty? Check. Simple? Check. Kids love it? Check!

Recipe - Cornstarch Clay

• 1 cup Cornflour
• 2 cups Salt (generic table salt works best)
• 1 1/2 cups Water, cold

1. Place salt and 2/3 cups of the water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Allow to cool.
2. In a bowl, mix cornflour with the remaining water. 
3. Blend the two mixtures together, and knead well. This will form your clay.
4. Once the clay has been molded into shapes, allow it to dry out (air dry).
5. Once clay shapes have dried out a bit, bake them at 100 degrees Celsius for 2 hours.

*Unused clay can be covered with cling wrap or kept in a sealed container.

Recipe - Oobleck

• 2 cups cornflour
• 1 cup water
• Food colouring (optional)

1. Add food colouring to water if desired.
2. Mix cornflour in (sifting is unnecessary). You may need to add a little bit more if your mixture is too runny.
3. Enjoy! You can just put it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to re-use another time.

Recipe - Coloured Rice

• A bag of cheap white rice (can be found at Reject Shop or Sam's Warehouse)
• Food dye in various colours
• Water 
• Medium sized ziplock bags
• Waxed paper

1. Put 1 tsp of water into a bag and add food colouring directly into the water, 4-5 drops is about right. 
2. Pour half a cup of rice into the bag, seal, and squish the rice around until all coated in the food dye.
3. I flattened the rice out, still in the sealed bag, and let it absorb the colouring for about 15 minutes.
4. Break up the rice whilst still in the bag (it will have hardened a bit). 
5. Empty the bag out onto waxed paper, and spread the rice out to allow it ti dry fully.
6. You're done! It's play time!

Recipe - Cheese Twists

Not only are these fun to make, they're fun to eat! For everyone. For me, mainly. Ok, so I love these things, and it seems that Eden is following in my cheese-loving footsteps. This cheese-twist recipe is from 'Fresh Food for Babies and Toddlers' by the Australian Women's Weekly, and is so easy to make, she did almost all of it by herself.



You'll need:
2 sheets ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 cup coarsely grated pizza cheese
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan

1. Preheat oven to moderately hot.oil two oven trays and line with baking paper.
2. Brush one pastry sheet with half of the egg yolk; sprinkle with pizza cheese. Top with remaining pastry sheet; brush with remaining egg yolk.
3. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and cut pastry stack in half, placing one pastry half on top of the other half, pressing down firmly to seal.
4. Cut pastry widthways, into 24 strips; twist each, pinching the ends to seal. Place twists on trays and bake uncovered for about 10 minutes until browned lightly.