Psychedelic Hair Mousse Art

I remember previously seeing some interesting uses for shaving foam for art activities on Pinterest. When I spotted a bottle of hair mousse in my drawer which was older than Noodle (I am not sure why I actually own hair mousse since I have no recollection of ever using it), I figured that it should have similar tactile properties and decided to let the kids experiment.Today's quick, messy art activity with my little ones needed just three things: paper, the hair mousse and food colouring.

 

Top left: mousse squirted on paper | Bottom left: Food colouring fizzing on mousse | 

Right: End product

We squirted lots of hair mousse onto a page- both kids had a turn at this and found this bit hilarious. Then we sprinkled a few different colours of food colouring all over the page (today I used powder colour as this made the mousse fizz and make interesting noises, though I am sure other types might create better results aesthetically). We may have used a bit too much purple colour as this seems to have overpowered the other colours a bit.

Then the kids got to squish their fingers into the foamy, fluffy, fizzy mess for a fun, sensory experience. I let Noodle make patterns in the foam using a plastic fork and a toothpick. Then we blotted it a bit with a paper towel and left it to dry. The result was a psychedelic rainbow of colour.

The mousse is quite soapy and washes off hands without problems. Oh and the paper smells pretty afterwards.

Messy Fun with Edible Yoghurt Paint

If you have smaller kids, they will love getting their hands dirty with this edible finger paint!

At fifteen months, Squish still has a tendency to put everything in his mouth, so I love arty activities that are not likely to end in a call to Poison Control. This yoghurt paint is baby safe and takes just seconds to make and a little goes a long way.

The paint has just two ingredients, yoghurt and food colouring. I used double cream yoghurt (which was about to expire anyway, so I felt less guilty about food wastage) and gel food colouring.

Yoghurt paint made with yoghurt and food colouring

I put about a teaspoon of plain yoghurt into each compartment of an ice tray (I have an old one that is reserved for messy art activities). Then I added a little food colouring to each one. I put a good squirt of colouring in each one as I wanted vibrant colours, but in retrospect I would put less as the finger stains were a bit tough to get out afterwards. Mix the yoghurt and the colour and voila, paint is ready.

Before you let the little ones loose with the paint, I would suggest some mess control as this gets messy. I stripped Squish down to just his vest, put aprons on for both kids and put down a big plastic tablecloth on the floor. Then I let the kids do their thing.

 Squish was reluctant at first, but once he got into it he really enjoyed it. All the colours were soon varying shades of brown and green as Squish dipped his fingers in every pot. Noodle did not seem to mind the colours being mixed- she was lost in deep concentration painting her fairy. Gulp... I made the faux pas of complimenting her ninja turtle (the fairy ninja-turtle is in the top left of the pics below).

The final masterpieces

The end result was quite impressive in my view (but I am biased), although clean up was a bit of a schlep and Squish had to have a bath afterwards. 

P.S. We have experimented with edible paints made with flour, water and colouring before, but I prefer the texture and finish of the yoghurt paint, which does not become powdery once dry. You can also add edible food glitter for a shimmer effect.

Just stuff we did at home last week

There were a few rainy days this past week, so the kids enjoyed several indoor activities at home:

• We did a hand print painting this week using glitter finger paint to make a butterfly (I just added glitter to some regular finger paint). The top set of hands belong to Squish and the bottom set to Noodle. 

Butterfly hand prints

• Noodle painted a bird with the leftover paint and added a foam beak and googly eyes.

 

Glitter bird

• We baked a tasty chocolate cake. Nothing fancy, a box mix topped in caramel and sprinkles. Noodle did most of the decorating.

• We blew bubbles. 

Recipe for home made bubbles:

1/3 cup dishwashing liquid
1 1/4 cups water
2 teaspoons sugar

• We played I spy. For Noodle, I give her the sound the word begins with rather than the letter since she cannot really spell yet.

• We played (lots of) hide and seek. Squish is surprisingly good at this for a fourteen month old!

• We turned our lounge into a recording studio and had a sing-along, using the Yokee app, where the lyrics to practically any song are available.

The Senses Game

Sometimes I run out of activities to do with the kids. Noodle was bored yesterday afternoon and this was what I came up with (I think I might have done this at some point as a child). My activities usually have some kind of theme and today it was using ones five senses (two of them anyway, taste and smell).

TASTING GAME

 

Sprinkles, chocolate chips, almond, custard tasters

I took an ice tray and put one item to taste in each hole. We had an almond, a chocolate chip, some cake sprinkles, lemon juice, coconut oil, an ice cube, a blob of plain yoghurt and a little custard. Then I put on a blindfold for Noodle. She was allowed to feel and taste each item but not see them. 

Noodle did remarkably well, having guessed all except the lemon juice (which she said was vinegar) and the cake sprinkles, which she said was sugar (technically correct I guess). For the almond, she said it was a nut and when I asked her what kind of nut, in typical Noodle style, she said 'a very hard one'. Squish also enjoyed tasting each item. 

For older kids, you could adapt this to show them how different parts of their tongues have different taste receptors (sweet, sour etc) and also ask them to block their noses to demonstrate how ones nose also plays a part in tasting.

SNIFFING GAME

The smelling part of the game lasted significantly longer than the tasting segment. I blindfolded her again and let her smell some perfume, the coconut oil she had tasted earlier, her own shoe, her shampoo, toothpaste, some baby lotion, some spices, peanut butter, raw onion, coffee beans and some mint leaves (but any non-toxic, strong smelling substance will do). Again, she did remarkably well and only faltered on the peanut butter.

I think it will be interesting to do the other senses as well, but that is an activity for another day.

The Jozi WAHM's Guide to Making Gloopy Goo

This is another fun sensory activity that I came across looking for fun, educational activities that would be suitable for both a four year old and a one year old.

Making the goo is incredibly simple and only requires cornflour (maizena), water and food colouring (optional). This is how it is made:

1. Place one cup of hot water in a bowl.
2. I added the food colouring at the end but it was incredibly hard to stir so I would recommend adding it at this point instead. A drop or two is enough. I used green gel food colouring.
3. Add about two cups of maizena to the water, a little at a time, stirring gently as you go along.You might need a little more or less than this. It will become quite stiff and difficult to stir. 

1. Left: The maizena (cornflour) used to make the goo. Right: Maizena and water mixture. 

Once ready, this mixture takes on amazing properties. It looks liquid, but is solid on touching as force causes its viscosity to change. . If pressed it becomes rock hard, while it becomes liquid again if left alone.

I figured that the science behind non-Newtonian fluids was likely to go straight over the heads of my little ones, but they enjoyed practically testing the amazing properties of this mixture. They enjoyed watching the results as they poked and prodded, turned the mixture upside down (it looks runny but does not move) and squeezed it between their hands. This kept them busy for ages! It did seem to dry out after a while though.

With older children, a physics lesson can be incorporated into the activity.

Warning 1:

This is really messy. I did this outside to minimise the cleaning afterwards. Nevertheless, I had two filthy kids by the end of it. No surprise, Squish ate some of it, but called it quits when he realised it was not particularly pleasant tasting. 

Warning 2:

Do not throw this mixture down the drain as it will cause blockages. Rather dispose of it in he dustbin. Apparently it can be stored in a Ziplock bag for later use, but my mixture was full of grass and toddler drool so I opted to throw it out.

Noodle and Squish getting their hands dirty