Exploding Cranberries for Play Dough - and Some Fun Creations!
Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 2:08PM We had lots of fun today! Thank you to Homeschool Mo for giving me the idea to make Cranberry Play Dough! I recently discovered her blog and I know you will like it, too!
First, take a bag of cranberries and boil them (in about 4 cups of water)....
Wait until you start seeing and hearing them pop open.... we just had discussed yesterday in math what the boiling point of water was... so this was a good connection. The kids LOVED watching the cranberries explode!
Strain the berries so you have 2 cups of cranberry water you can use in the play dough recipe:
Then, over medium heat, combine 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, and the cranberry water. Stir CONSTANTLY (about 5 minutes) until the mixture pulls away from the sides and turns into play dough.
We added gold glitter to make it a little more festive:
We pulled out the Christmas cookie cutters and lots of beads:
I was so proud of the children's creations - they sat at the kitchen table for nearly two hours. (The darker play dough you see if left over Apple Pie Play Dough from the Fall!) We listened to lots of Classical Christmas music, so we got in our music lesson for the day as well.
Here's a close-up:
The kids want these to set out and dry and then give them to Santa as a gift when we pay him a visit on Saturday. They also want to use them as decorations around the house.
It was a GOOD morning... I love it when that happens!
Reader Comments (6)
VERY cute and fun!!!! Looks like a great way to spend the day learning at home!
They made some beautiful creations and you did an excellent tutorial! Popping cranberries are fun, aren't they? Thanks for the link back!
I love the play dough Christmas tree!
I make homemade cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and I, too, enjoy the popping cranberries.
Oh my! This is so cool! Thanks for sharing this, and thanks for linking up to Helpful Homeschool Hints.
Oh I LOVE the look of your cranberry playdough. WOW! Also, love your blog post for your six year old! Wonderful - mine is 3 in Feb and already time is whizzing by!
Coming via Phyllis at Homeschooling Journal.
Would love for you to link up your playdough at Kids Get Crafty? It's every Wednesday over at Red Ted Art, current linky: http://www.redtedart.com/2010/12/01/kids-get-crafty-robots/
Hope to see you there!
Maggy
(thank you)