Kids love to do craft projects with clay. Store bought clay can be expensive, however. With this easy to make recipe for self-hardening, or air drying, clay, your kids will be creating masterpiece projects in no time. Below are some ideas for them to get started.
How to Make the Clay
4 cups of flour
1 ½ cups of salt
1 ½ cups of water
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl. You can shape it in any way you want and sit it out until it dries completely. No baking is needed. After drying, you can sand it gently if necessary and paint it in any way you would like.
Project One: Pencil Pot, Bowl, or Flower Pot
Before the homemade clay dries, your kid can shape it into a pot or bowl for any special purpose. This clay can be formed easily by coiling a long rope of it around and around to make a bowl. Simply smooth out the sides at the end for a nice surface. It can also be formed into a neat circle and a rectangle for the tube to make a can shaped pencil holder.
Project Two: Doll or Action Figure Furniture
Whether you have a boy or a girl, chances are they have some sort of doll or action figure. The accessories for these items can get expensive! Why not let your kid fashion tables, chairs, couches, and beds for their dolls out of this homemade clay? They can be painted in many colors and even covered with fabric at the end for more doll comfort.
Project Three: Miniature Farm of Pet Store
This homemade clay can be fashioned into many items. Your child may have fun making an entire farm or pet store. Animals can be made with simple round and long shapes stuck together with toothpicks or a little glue and then painted. They can also build trees, animal troughs or bowls, toys, and other accessories.
Project Four: Funky Stringing Beads
Girls who enjoy dress up games will like to make their own beads and jewelry. This self-hardening clay can be rolled into tubes and balls and painted. All you have to do is insert a toothpick or wire before the clay is dry and you will have a nice hole to string the beads together.
Project Five: Light and Zipper Pulls
Your child will love to decorate their room, or themselves, by making fun light and zipper pulls. Basically, they will roll out some of this clay flat and then make shapes out of it. They can do this by cutting with a butter knife, using a small cookie cutter, or by using their hands and ingenuity. After cutting them out and letting them dry, they can paint their shapes in any color they wish.
Creating great craft projects with homemade clay is a fun way to spend your time. Not only is the recipe for the clay super easy and inexpensive, your kids will be able to do it themselves. They will have fun creating imaginative projects for themselves and your home.
