keepsake turkeys from cinnamon clay

We recently made several keepsake turkey crafts from cinnamon clay. I have to thank my oldest for the idea. He'd commented that he didn't like the way the salt clay we'd just made smelled and suggested adding cinnamon. Along with a little brown food coloring, we found we had turkey-colored clay!

Cinnamon clay recipe:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup cinnamon
3/4 cup water; you may need more or less
food coloring

1. Combine dry ingredients and stir well
2. Add 10 drops of green, 12 drops of red, and 6 drops of yellow food coloring to 1/2 cup water
3. Mix! You'll probably need to add a little more water - up to 1/2 cup. I found I needed a total of 3/4 cup water.

Like cookie dough, this clay can be a little sticky, If it's hard to use, simply stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

  

For the first turkey, cut one large and one small circle from the clay. (We have the Wilton cookie cutter set, which has made our clay/playdough play so much fun.) Layer the circles, then decorate with dyed pasta. Bake at 200 degrees until hard, around 90 minutes.

For the second turkey, I traced the kids' hands using a toothpick. After chilling the dough, I cut their handprints from the clay. The kids used dyed pasta (especially ditalini) to decorate their turkeys. Again, bake this at 200 degrees for about 90 minutes.

Don't forget to check out our all-natural, toddler-safe pasta dying method.

(Links above are Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for your support!)

toddler-safe dyed pasta (no alcohol!)

We love to use dyed pasta and rice in our art projects. There are so many types of pasta available, and each type seems perfect for some future art project.

There are many tutorials for dying pasta, but here is our method. It's such a forgiving technique that even a preschooler (or a well-supervised toddler) can do it with little help from you!

We also like it because, unlike other recipes you'll find, it uses white vinegar instead of rubbing alcohol to set the food coloring - safer for little ones, especially if they're tempted to eat the pasta!

To make safely-dyed pasta:

pasta
water
food coloring (our favorite is the plant-based India Tree)
vinegar
non-reactive bowl (Pyrex, glass, and ceramic work well)

Simply add pasta to the bowl, cover with water, add food coloring until you get the desired color, add a hefty splash of vinegar (I never measure, but around 1/2 cup for a small Pyrex mixing bowl sounds right), and stir.

Be careful you don't over-soak the pasta! It will become soft, take longer to dry, and some shapes may lose their features as they dry. It should take around 15-20 minutes to obtain a  bold color, depending on how much food coloring you used.

You can dye long, thin noodles like spaghetti, although you cannot soak the pasta for very long. I recommend using extra food coloring for vibrant colors.

Dry the pasta in a low-temperature oven (200), until the noodles are dry.

Activities your child may enjoy:
- learn about color mixing when dying pasta
- practice patterning, counting, and other math skills while stringing pasta
- make necklaces or window hangings from rigatoni, manicotti, ditalini, or other circular-pastas
- build funny creatures or fantastical monsters with pasta and claydough
- use pasta shapes to inspire collage or mosaic projects - campanelle work well for tree leaves
- practice learning letter sounds by playing with a rainbow alphabet

(Links above are Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for your support!)

welcome to Nurtured Childhood!

I passionately believe in nurturing childhood - protecting the spirit of play, the innocence of small children, and the growing, curious minds of little ones.

As a homeschooling mama to three, I've had years to think about nurturing childhood. I've drafted games, lists, projects, and even invented a few new things along the way.

Join us as we start up with regular posting in January, 2013!