The other day at the grocery store they were selling bags of gourds. Seems normal right? People use them for decorations, fall them baskets etc. So I grabbed 2 bags with the intention of decorating with them in my fall basket and then later saving some of the seeds in hopes to plant next year and grow my own gourds. (dork I know)
Any who after coming home with no less than 20 gourds of varying sizes and shapes, I posted on facebook (yes I am one of the masses that loves facebook) about my recent purchase, and asking what I should do with them. When my mom’s cousin (Howdy Pam) had the brilliant idea of painting them with glitter and making it a craft for the boys. But then I thought, how in the world could I do this, my boys would ingest glue and glitter, there has bound to be a non-toxic foody way. And boy was there……
As I get myself into these long drawn out “fun” crafts I always end up thinking why do I do this to myself. But I am always searching for something fun to do and this fit the bill.
So for glitter, I simply made colored sugar! Orange (yes that is suppose to be orange), blue and green, a few drops in each and just stirred until colored.
Then for glue the fun part!! A homemade non toxic kid friendly glue, gotta love that.
Ingredients: 3/4 cup water, 2 T corn syrup, 1 tsp vinegar, 3/4 cup cold water and 1/2 cup corn starch
In a small saucepan, add the water and corn syrup and vinegar, stir well
and bring to a rapid boil
meanwhile measure 3/4 cup cold water and 1/2 cup cornstarch, stir until dissolved
then slowly add cornstarch to the first mixture, stirring constantly
Until it thickens and cools and you have yourself glue!
Then I lightly brushed the glue on to the gourds, and handed one to each child
along with a sprinkle of sugar glitter
They each tested it out
and rolled them around
and then the inevitable happened, they had to taste it!
So they played and added more colors, and ate more!
More glitter please mommy!
Until they were a huge sticky sugary gluey mess!
And the sugar glitter was starting to get uncomfortable
and everywhere
so straight to the bath tub they went!
Overall I think they really enjoyed it, and heck anything that makes a mess and results in a bath, is a double win in these two’s book!
Though I am a bit surprised at how well the finished product turned out!
all the bright colors look a bit more like Mardi Gras then Halloween!
But all in all, it was pretty fun! Even for me!
What’s a favorite Halloween project of ours? Or even your favorite thing to do with gourds?
Print This RecipeHomemade Glue
Ingredients:
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. white vinegar
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup cold water
Directions:
Mix water, syrup and vinegar in saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil. In small bowl, mix cornstarch and cold water. Add this mixture slowly to first mixture. Stir constantly. Cool and use.
i love it!!!
That picture of him looking at his hands is hilarious! like…”what the heck is this?! get it off!”
It looks like they had a blast! Today, do they walk by the gourds and stop to take a lick?
Too cute! You’re way more brave than me. I don’t even like to have the kids play with Play-Doh because of the mess (unless it’s outside). 😉
You are such a good mom!
I didn’t know you could make glitter from sugar! Learned something new today. The kids look like they had so much fun – what great memories you made!
pk @ Room Remix
What a cute little project:-)
those are amazing! what budding little artists
I love this! Very good idea for little hands and mouths!
You alwasy come up with the most amazing crafts!! Such a great idea!! I had no idea you could make homemade glue…cool!
So fun!
A lot of my craft projects end in the bathtub too.
That looks like a lot of fun. Your boys are adorable!
Wow pretty fun awesome project!
you’re such a good mom to let your kids play and make messes like boys will do – I bet they loved it!!
Looks like a lot of fun (for the boys). I’d go insane with the mess my kids would make. Oh yeah, it’s be 100 times worse than yours. lol
Thanks for stopping by My Sippy Cup Runneth Over today!
How cool is that???? Very cute!
Those turned out fabulously!
I always struggled to find fun craft activities when my kidlet was in the “everything in the mouth” stage; this is a terrific idea. I’m going to copy that “glue” recipe right now; eventually I’ll be in that same position with the 5 month old 😉
Looks like a lot of FUN!!!
Geri
Looks like they had a BLAST!!
This is awesome! What cute pictures…eating the “glitter”
Never in a million years would my girls be doing that!!! You are a very fun and brave Mommy. I let my girls play in the sink in the kitchen the other day and I thought that was adventurous.
You definitely win the “bravest mom” award for that project! 🙂