Shaving Cream Eggs

I love coloring Easter eggs and I also love finding new and inventive ways of playing around with textures so I enjoyed this activity just as much as my children.  I think Caden (4 yo) loved getting messy and playing around with colors.  Porter (18 mo) played around with his shaving cream a little, but mostly enjoyed watching us.

SUPPLIES:

• Vinegar


• Food Coloring


• Shaving Cream


• Hard Boiled Eggs

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Dip the eggs in vinegar to help the colors stick and brighten.


2. Put a little (or a lot) of shaving cream on a plate and add various dots of food coloring around the shaving cream.


3. Mix the colors as little as much as you like (we used a craft stick to mix it).


4. Roll your egg around in the color and set aside.


5. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight and rinse with water in the morning.  Voila!

Caden's shaving cream turned into almost a solid color and I worried it would make the eggs looks gross, but I was wrong.  His eggs are by far my favorite.  I was way too careful choosing my colors.



After we were all done with the eggs, Caden had a lot of fun playing around with the shaving cream.  Porter was a little unsure of it after I told him we couldn't eat it, so then he rubbed a little on his tummy.  The food coloring slightly stained their hands, but it was gone after bath time.

Note: I'm not sure these are okay to eat, but they sure are pretty.  We used expired eggs so I don't feel too bad about not eating them.

Bath Paint

My kids loved this activity.  Painting in the tub is wonderful!  They would have stayed in the bath all night had I let them.  Bath paint is really easy to make and clean up, too.  So I'm logging this one for one of those days when we're all going stir crazy in the house and don't want to leave.  It doesn't have to be night time to take a bath.

SUPPLIES:

• Soap (I used baby soap-pictured above)


• Cornstarch


• Food coloring


• Ice cube tray (or something similar to mix the different colors)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix equal parts of soap and cornstarch with a spoon.  (I mixed 1/4 cup soap, 1/4 cup cornstarch and it seemed like the perfect amount)


2. Place a little bit of mixture in each compartment of the ice cube tray.


3. Add 1-3 drops of food coloring per compartment depending on how vibrant you want the color.

In the bath, the children can use paint brushes, foam brushes, sponges or their fingers.  It was super easy to clean up, but be careful.  Since there is so much soap in this mixture, it makes the bath really soap and slippery.

In case you're wondering, food coloring did not stain my bathtub.

Science Experiment: Celery & Food Coloring

We did a little science experiment with celery and food coloring.  It's actually one of the first we've done at home.  I'm excited to start incorporating this into our weekly routine.  Having curious children in the home makes science experiments so fun.

SUPPLIES:

• Celery


• Clear glasses or vases


• Water


• Food coloring (if you're only doing one color, blue works best)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill the glass with a couple inches of water.


2. Add a few drops of food coloring. (We added about 10)


3. Cut the celery about an inch from the end, separate and place in the glass.  Be sure to leave the leaves on as they show the food coloring the best.


4. Let it sit overnight to see what happens!

Caden woke up in the morning and quickly realized that the blue celery was turning blue.  I asked him, "why do you think it's turning blue?"  He said, "it's in blue water." I then talked to him about what happens when we water plants, and how the water gets to the end of the leaves.  If you look really close, you can see the food coloring reaching the end of the celery stalk.

It was fun to see Caden draw conclusions and talk about how plants absorb water.  Do you do science experiments in your home?

Hair Gel Bag for Toddlers

Another great activity for toddlers!

SUPPLIES:

1. Hair Gel (I found mine at the Dollar Store)


2. Food Coloring


3. Ziploc Bag (Gallon size)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pour entire bottle of hair gel into Ziploc Bag.


2. Add 10 drops (more or less depending on the color you want) of food coloring.


3. Mix and zip up the bag

Caden helped me mix the hair gel and food coloring and starting playing with it on the table.  He loved squishing the bag and "moving the bubbles around."  He's been really into his ABC's lately so I asked him to draw a letter.  He was having a tough time so I pulled out the light table.



It was so much easier to see what he was drawing on the light table.  After getting a few of the bubbles out, it was even better.





"The letter E"



Starting to draw a big E.



"E is in my name."

How to Make Liquid Watercolors

SUPPLIES:

1. Water


2. Vinegar


3. Food Coloring

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.


2. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar and stir.


3. Pour into storage container (like a baby food jar).


4. Add food coloring.  I added about 20 drops to each jar.  Stir.


5. Let the watercolors set until room temperature.

It was so fun to see how our colors turned out and Caden really enjoyed helping me mix the paints.  They dried almost pastel on the paper which was fun.  I wonder if we would have added more vinegar if the colors would be more vibrant.