Sometimes it’s not so bad when kids make a mess. Like during a craft or when the help you bake. Sometimes it’s down right cute even. Like that picture we all have of our little ones covered in chocolate, flour, spaghetti sauce, etc. Kids seem to enjoy themselves when they can get creative and make a little mess without getting in trouble.
Clorox has created Clorox Recipes for Fun website. Fun and even educational ideas to do with your kids that are messy. Mess it up, then clean it up with Clorox. You can even submit your own idea for messy fun if you have one. Choose from the categories Wacky Science, Arts and Crafts, Kiddie Cooking, and Creative Cooking.
I think my boys would love a lot of the Wacky Science ideas. Looking over the site there’s a lot of ideas that don’t take a lot of materials and are pretty easy for your kids to do. Like the Cream Cheese Playdoh recipe in the Creative Cooking section. I love it, fun and edible.
You’ll notice on the Clorox Recipes for Fun site that they also have a contest. Register on the site and you’ll be entered to win $10,000 to have your own Ultimate Mess Party! Earn extra chances too just by viewing some of the super cool recipes on the site. You can get even more entries if you have your own recipe for fun to submit.
Here’s my idea and one that the kids love to do.
Bubble Painting
What you’ll need:
— a couple different colors of Tempera paint (about 1 Tbsp each color)
–liquid dish soap
–water
–white construction paper or cardstock
–Plastic cups (one for each color you plan on using)
–some type of covering for the surface your working on (newspaper for example)
–straws
–bubble wands and/or pipe cleaners
all artists should wear old clothes, this will get messy.
First cover your surface with newspaper. Then place at least 1 Tbsp of one color of Tempera pain in a cup, add 1 Tbsp of liquid dish soap. Add about a 1/4 cup of water. Do this for each cup/color
Test to see if your “bubble paint” will work by blowing gently with a straw in the paint. If it bubble up nice it’s good. If it’s too thick add just a little more water until it bubble up. If it’s too thin,add more liquid dish soap. You may also need to add a little more color is you like.
Give each little artist their own straw and bubble wand. Pipe cleaners can also be bent and made into bubble wands or different shapes if you like.
There’s 2 different ways you can paint:
1. Blow with a straw into the bubble paint until the bubble pass the surface of the cup. Take a piece of white paper and dab it on top of the cup to pick up some of the bubble paint.
2. use the bubble wands or pipe cleaner wands to blow bubbles directly on to the paper.
Last but not least, have fun. When the paper starts to get pretty covered with bubbles or the bubbles start to soak through the paper, it’s time for a new sheet. If it gets too damp it just falls apart.
The first time I ever saw this was at a family reading night at the school The boys had so much fun with it. And so did I for that matter.
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox Clean-Up Recipes for Fun blogging program, for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on this program, click here and see the Terms link.
