Web HSC

Helpful Links: Home & Hearth

Home & Hearth Craft Recipes

Crayons

Making new crayons from old is a FUN and easy craft.

1. Gather old broken crayons. Remove all labels and tape.
2. Sort into color groups -- reds, blues, purples, yellows, etc.
3. Wash out old cans. Water packed vegetable cans work best as they have little to no residue. Cans from fatty products (broth soups) and tomato products tend to interact with the wax.
4. Prepare molds. Candy molds, Jello Jiggler molds, soap molds, or interesting ice cube trays make great molds for crayons.
5. Place the crayons from one color family in a can. If you are a little short on cans, start with lighter colors first. You can easily do orange in a can after yellow, red in a can after pink, purple or black in a can after blue, and brown in a can after orange.
6. Place cans on eye of stove over medium to medium low heat. Be patient! Shake the can occasionally to make sure that all crayons are getting down to the bottom to melt. Don't overheat!
7. When no lumps are left, pour wax into molds. If you spill, wait till the wax hardens and it will peel up with your fingernail. Place in refrigerator or another cool place (NOT freezer) to harden.
8. When the wax is completely solidified, gently pop out the crayons from the molds.

Submitted by Martha R. & Lisa C.

Peanut Butter Playdough

1/2 c. Peanut Butter
1/4 c. Corn Syrup
1/2 C Powdered Milk
1/2 C. Powdered Sugar

Mix, Play with & eat.

Recipe says makes 12 servings, but i think it is more like 2-3 servings, since we are ever so creative with it. ENJOY Cindy Lou Who.

For easier cleanup (trust me on this one..), put your bowl inside a plastic grocery store bag or line bowl with plastic wrap.

Mix together 2 cups flour and 2 and 1/2 cups water. Mix well. Mixture will be a little lumpy, but try to get out as many lumps as you can.

Use your paper strips and apply as usual.

After applying mache, let dry for about 3 days. Pop the balloon and let dry an additional 3 days.

****If I remember right, though, it was hot and sunny and I put our project outside and it dried much quicker. Messy....but sooooo much fun! Jamie.

You will need vinegar, salt, warm water, porous stones(or charcoal briquettes) and a small glass bowl. Add 3 tbsp. salt to warm water, stir until it dissolves. Continue adding salt 'til no more will dissolve. Add a tbsp. of vinegar, fill bowl with porous stones or charcoal briquettes. Leave on top
of frig for two days. Check - there should be crystals forming. As water continues to evaporate, the bowl should be filled with rock crystals. Good luck! Kara.

Self-Hardening Play Dough

1 1/2 C. Salt
4 C. Flour
1 1/2 C. Water
1 tsp. Alum (found in the baking section of stores)

Mix salt, flour, and alum in a bowl. Gradually, add water. Knead the dough, and add water until dough forms a ball and no longer crumbles. Store in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Allow the dough to come to room temperature before using. From Beverly.

Play Dough Recipe #2

The playdough is REAL soft and smooth.

2 c. flour
1 c. salt
1 tsp. cooking oil
1 c. water (or less, start with LESS)
food coloring or powdered tempera paint

Mix all dry ingredients. Add a few drops of water at a time. Add a few drops of coloring. Stir until a dough ball forms. Put n plastic zip locks and store in fridge if you need to store it. Submitted in loving memory of Mari Alter who is singing with the angels in Heaven by Cindy Lou Who.

Smooth, Cooked Play Dough

4 C. Water
4 C. Flour
2 C. Salt
4 Tblsp. Cream of Tartar
2 Tblsp. Cooking Oil
Food Coloring (optional)
For fun, add food coloring to water. Mix ingredience in a large pan. Cook over medium heat. Stir mixture to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook until the mixture becomes stiff. Allow the dough to cool some before children play with it. Dough will not harden completely and cannot be baked. Store dough in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Allow the dough to come to room temperature before using. From Beverly.

Cornstarch Clay

1 C. Cornstarch
1 1/2 C. Flour
3/4 C. Warm Water

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Gradually, add warm water a little at a time. Mix into a stiff dough. Knead the dough, sprinkling with flour if it is too sticky. Store dough in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Allow the dough to come to room temperature before using. From Beverly.

Soap Crayons

I thought this would be a fun thing for the kids to make and maybe sell or
give as gifts to younger children. Personally, I prefer using the color
gels from cake decorating instead of using a ton of the expensive drops!
You also get a much wider choice in colors in the gels.
Jean

1-3/4 Cups Ivory Snow Powder
1/4 Cup Water
50 Drops Food Coloring
Ice Cube Tray

1.. Mix the soap powder and the water together.
2.. Add the food coloring and stir. Pour the mixture into the ice cube
tray. Allow the crayons to harden.
3.. Pop the crayons out of the tray and break or cut into pieces. These
are fun to write with in the bath tub.
Note: Plastic candy molds can be substituted for the ice tray.
From Shelly B.

Rock Candy

1 Glass jar or drinking glass
Food coloring (optional)
1 Piece of cotton string
1 c Water
1 Pencil or stick
2 c Sugar
1 Paper clip
Additional sugar as needed

Tie a short piece of cotton string to the middle of the pencil or stick. Attach a paper clip to the end of the string for a weight. Moisten the string very lightly, and roll in a bit of sugar (this will "attract" the sugar crystals from the syrup to the string). Place the pencil or stick over the top of the glass or jar with the string hanging down inside.

Heat the water to boiling, and dissolve the 2 cups of sugar into it. For the biggest crystals FAST, heat the sugar-water solution a SECOND time, and dissolve as much additional sugar as you can into it. Add a few drops of food coloring to the solution if desired.

Pour the solution into the prepared glass or jar and leave undisturbed for a couple of days. Depending on how much sugar you were able to dissolve into the water, you should start to see crystals growing in a few hours to a few days.

Submitted by Lisa C.

Homemade Volcano

Take a soda pop bottle or any bottle with kind of a small opening, place the bottle in the middle of a dirt pile, pile up the dirt around the bottle like a mountain being careful not to get the dirt in the opening (I place a baggie over the top while piling up the dirt and then remove it). Add baking soda, food coloring and when ready the vinegar for the eruption. Your kids will want to do this over and over with different colors of food coloring, adding in cars, towns and toy soldiers to get smothered with the foam. It's great cause once they get the hang of it they can make their own any time they want. The added bonus is that the mess stays outdoors--they downside is it is outdoors and can't be transported.

Submitted by Sharont.

Interesting links:

100+ Goo Recipes

Last update 7/21/02

Website Design & Maintenance by Argiope Web Systems