Since they were very young, our daughters have enjoyed arts and crafts projects. If they were actually allowed to eat the ingredients we worked with, so much the better!
Here are five fun ways we've used food to not only create art, but also practice fine motor skills.
1. Chocolate Pudding Paint. As a teacher, I did this every year with my first grade students. Let your children finger paint with chocolate pudding on a sheet of waxed paper - after washing their hands well, of course!
2. Peanut Butter Playdough. This was another classroom activity that's so much fun for kids. I can't locate my old recipe, but here's a post with two versions you can try.
3. Cereal or Pasta Necklaces. We've strung various cereals and pasta shapes on yarn or lacing cord.
4. Mosaics with rice, beans, pasta, etc. Print out a plain picture, such as this whale, on a piece of paper (or card stock, if available). You could use a flower, tree, or any image with simple lines; a coloring book page could work as well. Outline the picture by gluing on rice, dry beans, or small pasta shapes.
5. Homemade Ice Cream. Admittedly it's winter, but who doesn't like ice cream anyway?! There are several ways to make this, but here's one recipe that involves using zipper-seal bags and is similar to what I've done in the past. You can also read the recipe reviews for variations other than vanilla.
Do you have more ideas for letting your children play with their food?
these are great ideas - my girls would love some of these :)
ReplyDeleteCookie dough - I let my children play with cookie dough and use their creativity to make fun shapes - then we bake it and eat it! :) Choc chip cookies work really well. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to try some of these ideas with my children! Thanks for sharing them!!
ReplyDeleteThat is so funny that this is your post for the day.....this morning we made biscuits and of course there was the scrap dough left over.....so Josiah had a ball using the rolling pin and cutters and just playing withit this morning. He put it in a bag to save for later....this afternoon we add 2 different colors of food coloring just for fun....he has had a ball with it all day....
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