Mundelein Coop Preschool

Favorite Recipes and concoctions

Having one of "those" days? Need an activity to get your child engaged with something other than a TV? Below are some of our favorite recipes we use daily at MCP. We believe sensory stimulation is an important component in development, children need to poke, smash and squeeze! Science, math and sensory combine for learning fun!

Liquid Starch paper mache This make the BEST mache!!!

Buy Sta-Flo liquid starch, (I have found it at Wal-Mart, Jewel, not all grocery stores carry it.) Pour the starch into a shallow pan. Cut newspaper into strips, dip into the starch and wipe down the excess, apply to whatever you are covering, a balloon, a box, whatever. Keep adding strips until the entire surface is covered completely. It will dry very quickly and is far less messy than traditional paste made from flour. You could cover some small openable plastic eggs, use white tissue rather than newspaper, and then paint when dry for a pretty spring decoration.

Cornstarch and baking soda play dough We made some "never melting" snowmen using this dough, it is very white, and soft, but dries hard. Use whole cloves for eyes, mouth, a toothpick colored with orange marker for the nose, and small buttons, ribbon as a scarf. We even shaped earmuffs out of pipcleaners!

Mix 2 cups baking soda, 1 cup cornstarch and 1 1/4 cup water in a suacepan. Stir, heating over medium heat, until the mixture is the consistency of mashed potatoes, cool and knead until smooth. Add a bit more water if the dough dries out too quickly.

Color Mixing There are lots of ways to mix colors, here are a few of our favorites

Mix small cups of water with food coloring (or go to www.discountschoolsupply.com and order some liquid water colors, they don't stain, and come in big bottle so they are way more economical than food coloring) then fold up a paper towel and use an eyedropper/pipette to drip the colored water on. Open up the towel and see the beautiful tie-dye effect. OR use a styrofoam egg carton and a small pitcher. Pour water in one of the the egg cavities and add colored water. The idea isn't to make perfect colors but to experiment freely, they might want to make purple 15 times, but that is ok! Make two separate  batches of playdough each a different color, then play! Watch the two colors slowly blend together. This one is messy but fun! Make a batch of instant potatoes, put spoonfuls on a tray, your child can (with clean hands!) fingerpaint with the potatoes and colored water, try vanilla pudding!

Baking Soda and Vinegar Put these two together and you have a chemical reaction that never fails to amaze!

We have several ways of doing this, one is just to put the baking soda on a tray, and squirt (with pipettes or eyedroppers) vinegar on top. Sometimes we color the vinegar, or use the three primary colors to make new ones. A really fun way is to put about 3T of baking powder in a balloon, pour some vinegar in a plastic water bottle. Stretch the balloon over the top and pull the balloon up to let the powder fall into the vinegar, watch the balloon blow up! Another is "baggie bombs". Cut a smallish square of paper towel, fold up baking soda into it, pour vinegar into a ziplock bag. Drop the packet in, and quickly zip up. The baggie bomb will puff up like a pillow and sometimes burst with a pop!

Bubbles( Who can resist bubbles? Why spend money on commercial bubbles when you can make up a batch with dishsoap?

Gently mix 6 cups water with 2 cups Dawn brand dishsoap (Dawn contains glycerin which helps make strong long lasting bubbles) in a large container. Provide blowers like straws, berry baskets, flyswatters, tubes of all kinds, paper or plastic. We thread cotton string in 2 straws, tie together to make a gigantic bubble blower, your hands! Let your imagination go to work, ask your child for ideas. For a truly nifty experiment, wait until winter for a very cold day, under 10 degrees. Blow a bubble and watch it freeze, it will turn white, then shatter like glass!

Cooked Playdough (This is a standard, we measure out the ingredients in groups and the children help to mix it up. The teachers cook it, while the children watch the transfomation from slimy goop to playdough!)

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 cups water(add food coloring if you like)

4 t cream of tartar (found in the spices aisle)

2 T vegetable oil

Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan. Heat over medium heat and stir until the ingredients form a ball. Remove from the pan, and knead until smooth. Store in an airtight container. This will last for weeks. Try making two batches, each a different color. Mix together while playing to make a new color.

Flubber I (We love flubber!! It is stretchy and can be blown up like a balloon using a straw.)

Mix 1 cup hot water with 1 t borax (laundry booster, it is found in the laundry aisle at your local grocery) until dissolved. Set aside.

Mix 2 cups glue with 2 cups warm water in a bowl. (You can add color if you like.)

Pour the hot water mixture into the glue slowly, about 1/3 of it, gather the flubber up in you hands, mixing and stretching. Pour another third in, and do the same, then the final third. Keep working, pulling, stretching until the flubber is stretchy and non sticky. There maybe some of the liquid left in the bowl. If the flubber flicks off and doesn't stretch, it is a famous "Flubber Flop" Then you have to start all over! it is a wonderful teaching moment, what can we do this time to make it work? Store in a covered container. It lasts for a long time too.)

Flubber II (We have had pretty good results with this version, fewer flops!!)

Pour 2 cups  of liquid starch (also found in the laundry aisle, and you can add color if you like) into a bowl. Pour 2 cups of glue on top of the starch. Let it sit for 5 mins. Don't touch it!!! Then start mixing with your hands, it will start to form, keep pulling and stretching until it is stretchy and non sticky. There will be liquid left in the bowl. Store in a covered container, and it also lasts a long time.

Real Slime (This is a Steve Spangler Science recipe, check out his website, many experiments and cool ideas.)

1 cup hot water with 1.5 t borax. Mix 2 cups clear glue with 2 cups warm water with color added. Mix like Fubber I recipe. This is an interesting change from regular flubber because it is clear, you can see through it when you stretch it. Try using Elmer's Galactic glue in red or blue for this one.

Goop (The science behind this is fascinating, the cornstarch and water don't bind together on a molecular level, so it has the properties of a liquid and a solid at the same time. Goop is easy to clean up, just let it dry, and it sweeps right up!)

Mix one box cornstarch and 1 cup water(color if you like) in a large shallow dish. Mix until all the powder is in the water. It will form a ball if squeezed, then will run through your fingers like water when released. Let it drip from your hands, you can feel a slight vibration as the goop drips to the tray. When you are done playing, leave the goop uncovered, it will dry out. When you are ready to play again, just add water again!

Shaving Cream (Inexpensive and fun!)

Squirt shaving cream right on top of your kitchen counter or table. Smooth, push and smush! You can write in the cream, make squiggly lines and shapes. Try dragging some kitchen untensils through, or maybe a comb? Use a paper cup to clean up when you are finished. Slide the cup around and it will pick up the shaving cream, then rinse with water. You can also put it on a large cookie sheet then spray it down when done. We like the larger space so the children can get their whole arms into the motion. Children love rubbing the smooth cream through their fingers.

More favorites coming soon.....