4 Easy and Fun Crafts for Kids Using Food

Ah, food, glorious, food! Combining crafts and food are a fun alternative to the usual craft activities. Each of these craft activities are geared for younger children but you may find the older ones getting involved too! So dress the kids in old clothes and let 'em have fun!

1)Pudding Paints

Toddler and pre-school kids love this project because they can eat what they create! This is a great activity for outside.

You will need:
Assortment of snack size puddings
Assortment of snack size yogurts
Wax paper

To Make:

Put large amounts of wax paper on a surface where messes are okay.
Dress your toddler so they can get messy!
Open up several different flavors of pudding and yogurt. These are the "paints".
Give your toddler wooden or plastic spoons, cookie cutters, basting brushes or anything that they can "paint" with. Fingers and hands work just great too.

Hint: If you are using a table for your project dampen it first before you put the wax paper down. This will help keep the paper from sliding around.
Hint 2: Don't allow kids with milk allergies to paint with the puddings.

2)Edible Necklace

You will need:

String or yarn
Cheerios or Fruit Loops

To make:
Cut string or yarn depending on how long you want the child's necklace to be.
String the Cheerios or Fruit Loops on the yarn.
Tie together at the end.
The child can eat off the Cheerios or Fruit Loops from their necklace.

Hint: Make sure younger children don't eat the string or yarn!
Hint: You can also use thin, long rope licorice instead of string or yarn.

3)Peanut Butter Play Dough

You will need:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups dry powdered milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

To Make:

Beat all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth.
Chill in the refrigerator at least 3 hours.
Place wax paper down on a table and let the kids play with the dough!
Kids can make shapes and work the dough like regular play dough.
Keep the peanut butter play dough in a plastic storage bag (like Ziploc) and store it in the refrigerator. Discard after 2 weeks.

Hint: If you dampen the table before you put the wax paper down the wax paper won't slide as much.
Hint: Don't allow kids with peanut allergies to play with this mixture.

4)Condensed Milk Paint

You'll need:

2 cups condensed milk
4 small bowls
Various plastic and/or wooden spoons
red, yellow, green, blue, etc. food coloring

To Make:

Divide the condensed milk evenly into the 4 bowls.
Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl creating more colors by mixing and experimenting.
Mix food coloring into the milk with spoons.
Put down construction paper and let the kids create their masterpiece!
Give your toddler wooden or plastic spoons, cookie cutters, basting brushes or anything that they can "paint" with. Fingers and hands work just great too.
Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. Discard after 2 days.

Hint: Condensed milk paint is shiny and looks great on construction paper, especially if the color of the paper is deep.

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Shelley Taylor may be contacted at http://www.singleparentcentral.com/ editor@singleparentcentral.com. Click here to view more of their articles.
Shelley Taylor is the Creator of www.SingleParent Central.com, offering resources and information for single parent families. She also maintains the home-based biz site, http://mymomsbiz.cjb.net