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Fun activity: self-hardening dough
Self-hardening paste is an alternative to salt dough. Because the problem with salt dough is that you can quickly do modeling, but after that you have to wait a long time, or even bake it in the oven. And if your children are like mine, waiting is not really their thing. But here, with the self-hardening dough, they wait BEFORE starting. So it doesn’t feel like waiting. This dough still requires the presence of an adult at the beginning, because it has to be heated in a saucepan. What you will need: 1 glass of cornstarch (or mazaïna) 2 glasses of baking soda glass of water Water-based paint to paint…
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Painting activity, or how to paint like Mondrian
Here is a fun activity to transform our little plant monsters into painter’s seeds; Mondrian, roughly speaking, is that: So, how do you make a painting “à la mondrian”? Nothing’s easier. You’ll need, 1) Take your sheet of paper, and glue lines of scotch tape in a geometric fashion, leaving a little protruding outside the sheet. 2) Paint the spaces left free 3) Peel off the tape before the paint is completely dry. 4) You can paint the lines black or leave them blank 5) Admire the work This one if from my 9 year old daughter: And there you have it, a nice little activity to do on rainy…
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An Aquarium in your home
Without the mess and the cleaning. Sounds fun? Here is how you can do it. If you don’t feel like having a real aquarium in your home, but your kids are asking for one, this is a cool activity that everyone can agree on. A do-it-yourself aquarium. What you will need. 1 box of morning cereal, or other container. Paper Markers and water-based paint Thread and tape Some small pebbles 1) Cut out one of the long sides of the box to form the aquarium. 2) Paint the background in blue, and the floor in green. 3) Cut small fish of different sizes and shapes out of paper. They can…
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Play-doh recipe
So, yes, I know the net is full of play-doh recipe, but as I’m sharing here what I love to do with my kids, I thought I might as well share my recipe. Again, this recipe is simple, easy to do and doesn’t take hours to do. INGREDIENTS Mix: 1 cup Flour ½ cup Salt 1 tea spoon Vegetal Oil 2 tea spoon Baking Soda 2-3 drops food coloring ( optional) Boil 1 cup Water Mix the water with the flour Be careful not to let your kid deal with boiling the water or pouring it. you also need to take a wooden spoon to…
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A stroll in Paris
So, lock-down being what it is, it’s difficult to find fun things to do. Plus it’s starting to be sunny, so we all feel like going out, and the kids needs to move even more, if that’s possible. So here is a fun stroll that I did with my ten year old daughter and she loved it. The Parisian “passages”. These are covert pedestrian shopping arcades that dates from the late eighteen and nineteenth century. There are quite a few in Paris, but I suggest you go and do the simplest route. And by doing that you’ll also see the most beautiful ones. Go out, Métro Cadet, ligne 7. In…
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Cooking with the kids: chocolate cake
If your kids are anything like mine, they love cooking and baking. It must be the authorized mess that appeal to them. But if you’re like me, uber complicated recipes that last for hours, it’s boring. Or worse, recipes where something that you never ever have in your cupboard is required. I like when it’s simple and good. Of course, because clearly if a beautiful cake that makes your mouth water ends up being dry and unsavory, this is just too much of a downer. So here is the recipe of a chocolate fondant that is simply marvelous. It’s easy to do. If you whisk the egg white, it’s better,…