Messy Artist
Recipe Book
This is the recipe we use for our amazing sensory dough. This recipe
makes 1 quart of dough, and will last a long time if kept in an airtight
container. At The Messy Artist, we like to only make one color for our 18
month – 3 year age group, so that there are no worries about mixing colors.
For our older students, we like to make 2 primary colors (choose from red,
blue, and yellow), and allow them to mix the two together to explore a new
secondary color (red + blue = purple, red + yellow = orange, yellow + blue
= green). You can provide toys like the ones you’ve seen us use in class,
or just allow your child’s hands to be the primary tool at work.
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 TBSP. cream of tartar (found in spice aisle)
4 cups water
¼ cup oil
food dye, glitter, and/or fragrance
Wisk dry ingredients together first. Mix food dye, glitter, and/or fragrance
into the water. Add wet ingredients. Cook over low - medium heat, stirring
constantly. It becomes quite difficult to stir when it's almost done. Cook it
just a little bit beyond the time it forms a ball and it should be done.
Remove from heat. When cool enough to handle, knead until it is uniform.
If play dough is still sticky, add some flour when you knead it; next time
cook it a little bit longer. Store in an airtight container when not in use and
wipe any excess condensation from the lid of the container to prevent mold.
This sensory dough is a great activity to do with the kids. They'll have fun
measuring, pouring and mixing. The finished product is not as nice as the
cooked sensory dough and doesn't last as long. We like to make it anyway
because it is lots of messy fun, and it’s a great language activity. One
recipe makes two small portions.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
½ cup salt
scant 1 cup of water with food coloring mixed in
a few drops of oil
Mix all ingredients together and knead. If it is sticky add more flour. If it is
crumbly add more water. Store in an airtight container. It will last longer if
refrigerated.
This sensory dough is another great activity to do with the kids. The
oatmeal adds an interesting texture to the sensory dough, allowing for a
completely different hands-on experience. Sometimes, we like to add
coffee grinds to the dough to add even more texture, and to add a hint of
color. You can air-dry finished projects for 24 hours, and they will harden.
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup water
Combine flour and oatmeal in a bowl and mix. Slowly add water and mix.
The dough will keep for 10 – 14 days refrigerated in a zip lock bag.
This is our signature class and party favorite. Playing with goop is a fun and
interesting sensory experience for both children and adults. Goop
stretches, rips, bounces, crackles, spreads out, and is cold! This recipe
makes enough goop for one child to enjoy. Adjust the proportions to your
needs. The ratio is roughly one part liquid starch to 3 parts white glue.
Ingredients:
1 cup white glue
1/3 cup of liquid starch (found in laundry detergent aisle)
food dye
Pour glue into bowl and stir in the food dye. Then, add the starch and mix
together. Pour off any excess liquid. If it is really sticky, add more starch.
The mixture will be stringy at first, and not look like our goop. You must
kneed the mixture with your hands for it to become uniform.
Goop sticks to clothing very easily; wear a smock! It will also stick to hair
and carpet. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. After it’s
refrigerated for a couple of hours it becomes more like silly putty, However,
if left unrefrigerated too long it becomes sticky again.
This is our signature class and party favorite, but all glam-ed up and
bling-ed out. Playing with goop is a fun and interesting sensory experience
for both children and adults. Goop stretches, rips, bounces, crackles,
spreads out, and is cold! Our glitter goop will even leave your hands
sparkly. This recipe makes enough goop for one child to enjoy. Adjust the
proportions to your needs. The ratio is roughly one part liquid starch to 3
parts white glue.
Ingredients:
½ cup Colorations™ glitter paint (any color)
½ cup white glue
1/3 cup of liquid starch (found in laundry detergent aisle)
Pour glue into bowl and stir in the glitter paint. Then, add the starch and
mix together. Pour off any excess liquid. If it is really sticky, add more
starch. The mixture will be stringy at first, and not look like our goop. You
must kneed the mixture with your hands for it to become uniform.
Goop sticks to clothing very easily; wear a smock! It will also stick to hair
and carpet. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. After it’s
refrigerated for a couple of hours it becomes more like silly putty, However,
if left unrefrigerated too long it becomes sticky again. Glitter goop has more
elasticity than our regular goop.
This fantastic substance has a very forgiving recipe. You can use more or
less water depending on the consistency you want. Children can be
included in measuring and pouring the ingredients. Since slime is difficult to
mix, mixing should be handled by an adult only. This activity is best when
done on a messy tray. Provide children with pop sticks or plastic spoons,
little cups, plastic animals, toy people, or characters to put in the slime.
The toys allow children who are a little tentative about the slime to play with
it without getting messy.
Ingredients:
1 cup corn starch
¾ cup warm water
food dye
Mix food dye and water together first. Pour over corn starch, and mix
together with your hands. You can also use a strong wooden spoon to mix.
Plastic or cheap metal spoons tend to bend when mixing.
As children play, the water will slowly evaporate and the slime will become
just corn starch again. If you are playing with it for a while, you can just add
more water right onto the messy tray. Slime washes up easily with warm
water.
Colored glue is a great alternative to plain white glue. While white glue
dries clear, colored glue dries…well…colorfully! It adds another dimension
to collages or any craft project. Children can “draw” with the glue on paper,
or puddle the glue and smear with a pop stick for a cool tie-dye swirl effect.
Ingredients:
white glue
food dye
When making colored glue it is best to buy a gallon of glue and a bunch of
empty glue bottles. Pour some glue in a paper cup, add food dye, and mix.
Then pour into glue bottles using a funnel. You can make an endless array
of colors. Experiment with pouring the same amount of glue into 3 different
cups and adding different amounts of the same food dye to each one. Then
you could have a dark, medium, and light variation of the same color.
Our colored rice is great for a sensory table or sandbox at home. Make a
variety of colored rice to have rainbow rice! Colored macaroni is great for
craft projects and collages. Colored ziti noodles or other noodles with holes
are perfect for stringing to make keychains, necklaces, and bracelets.
Ingredients:
uncooked rice or macaroni
Colorations™ liquid watercolor (any color)
Pour the desired amount of rice or macaroni into a large ziplock bag and
add liquid watercolor. Close bag tightly and shake to distribute color. If
there is still uncolored macaroni or rice in the bag, add more watercolor and
repeat. When the desired color is achieved, pour rice or macaroni out on a
cookie tray, piece of foil, or wax paper to dry.
This paint is thick, gritty and dries sparkly. It's fun to use with squeeze
bottles, or allow your kids to finger paint with it for a sensory experience.
This recipe makes about 3 cups (enough for 3 squeeze bottles). Make the
sparkly paint right before you intend to use it. If you make it several days
ahead and put it in the squeeze bottles, it settles and is difficult to shake up
to the right consistency.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup salt
dry tempera powder is best for coloring, but food dye or a little paint will do
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Put in squeeze bottles or paint with
brushes.
This material is literally “Good Clean Fun,” and it smells great too. Put in as
much or little water as you like. If you put in a little water, it comes out like
dough. You can make soap sculptures with it. If you put in a lot of water it’s
more like soap paint and you can paint a picture with it.
Ingredients:
1 bar of Ivory Soap
water
liquid watercolor or food dye
Put bar of soap through your food processor using the grater blade! Yes,
you read correctly! It won’t ruin your food processor; it’s just a little hard to
clean out the soap after. Once you have shredded your soap, it will look
like shredded mozzarella cheese. Mix the shredded soap with a little water
and liquid watercolor or food dye.