Homemade Clay

We did a really neat project today that I have never done before. We made homemade clay dough. It's kinda like playdough, but different. I found the recipe online and it is used to make Christmas ornaments, so it dries kind of lightweight, instead of heavy like playdough. You can add food coloring to it to make different colors, or you could add pudding or jello or kool-aid if you want it to be good tasting (for those who have little ones, this might be a good idea). Anyway, we didn't color the dough b/c we plan on painting it when it is completely dry. We like a variety of colors, so we wanted to be able to decorate it ourselves. The kids liked the way it felt. You could use cookie cutters to cut it out, then punch a hole in the top for the string and 'voila' you have extra special ornaments!!! Here is the recipe if you are interested:

2 cups baking soda
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 cups water

Mix the ingredients together in a medium pan and cook over medium heat until the mixture resembles soft mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until you can hold it. You can play with it and then seal in an airtight container, or make ornaments and leave overnight to dry.

We actually put it in the oven for a while on 250 to speed up the drying process, but the bottom was still not dry, so we will have to let them dry overnight anyway. After we paint I may post pictures of the finished products at a later date.