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[This post was contributed by Heather of Crayon Box Chronicles. Are you following them on Pinterest?]
It’s great to be back at All For The Boys! Let’s start the new year off with a POW! –superhero style! Designing parties is a secret love of mine, especially the favors. My son is really into superheros, so a little homemade sparkly play dough and matching bags seemed perfect for his party. Making homemade stencils is inexpensive, easy, and fun! Now, they won’t be perfect, but I can’t image ten 4-year-old boys would mind too much!
The Batman figure is a stamper! Yes, Batgirl made her appearance too. So whether you’re having a party or not, superhero play dough is fun! It even sparkles! Homemade play recipes are a great way to encourage sensory stimulation and imaginative play. Ow, we’ve had our fair share of fun with our homemade snow dough, sand dough, and foam dough. Let the BAM! POW! ZAP! fun begin!
Materials needed for play dough:
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- Food Gel Icing or Food Coloring
- Glitter
- Rubber Gloves (optional – during prep only for food gel)
- In a heavy saucepan, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, and salt.
- Add the water and oil and place the saucepan over medium heat. Add food coloring. The gel is very concentrated, so I wore gloves. The color does NOT transfer when cooled. It doesn’t take a lot with the gel. If using basic food coloring, it will take much more to achieve desired coloring. Tip: The black color may look hunter green when heating.
- Stir continuously until the dough starts to thicken. As it thickens quickly, it will become hard to stir. Continue stirring and pull the mixture off the sides of the pan. It will form into a clump and resemble a tacky, slightly shiny finish. Once this happens, it’s ready. Remove from heat and let it cool.
Once cooled, add the glitter and knead the dough several times. Roll it into balls and set aside. Tip: I put the rolled balls into a zip-lock until the morning of the party to ensure freshness.
Now let’s construct the favor bags and play dough bags with tags. You’ll need the following materials to get started:
- Batman Stencil
- Batman Tag Printable
- Brown Paper Bags
- Yellow & Black Acrylic Paint
- Sponge Brushes/Roller
- Hole Punch
- Scissors
- Clear Cello Bags (Dollar Store)
- String
- Miniature Batman Figure (Michaels, Dollar Store)
First, print (2) Batman stencils (links in materials list), scaled down to 45%. You can play with the size if you’d like it bigger or smaller. Print the Batman tags, there’s 21 tags per page. One large Batman stencil is for the yellow circle and the other large Batman stencil is used to paint the bat.
To make the yellow circle stencil: Keeping the entire page intact, carefully pierce a hole though the circle of the Batman stencil and cut along the yellow edge. When you’re finished, just the yellow circle will be cut out. I taped the edge of the circle with clear tape to make it stronger. On my first attempt the paint really crinkled and ripped the stencil from the wet paint.
To make the bat stencil: Keeping the entire page intact, carefully pierce a hole through the center of the bat. Slowly cut along the edge of the bat. Tip: After piercing a hole through the center of the bat, I cut straight over to the edge of the bat, then cut the top half, then the bottom. When you’re finished just the bat will be cut out to use as your black stencil.
Next, let’s paint the stencil. Simply line up the circle, tape it down, and using a roller sponge brush, swipe back and both. Set aside to dry. I used acrylic paint, so it dried in a snap! Continuing making all your yellow circles.
Once the yellows dry, repeat the same process for the bat. Line the bat over the circle and paint. I used a regular sponge bush and blotted it. It’s that simple! BAM!
To assemble the bags: First, cut all your Batman favor tags out. With a hole punch, punch the center of the bat. Cut string to your preferred size. Place your balls of play dough into small cello bags, tie with twisty-ties that comes with them, and attach the tag with string. Place the yellow and black dough bags and your Batman figure into your stenciled bags and you’re ready for the party! No party? Just whip out your play dough tools and have fun! The bottom of the figure has a batman logo on it too!
To store the play dough: Simply seal it in an air-tight container or zip-lock bag and it can last for months. Continue to check the seal over time. Our last batch lasted six months. The key is the cream of tartar!
Here’s our most popular posts of 2013 at Crayon Box Chronicles: Best Small World & Sensory Play Activities of 2013
Here’s our most viewed post of 2013 at Crayon Box Chronicles: DIY Geoboard with Fabric Loops
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Heather is a former creative director and stylist from the Big Apple. See more on her blog, Crayon Box Chronicles, where she explores sensory, art, and play-based learning with her son.
1 Comment
We just love this idea….very creative, especially for boys. We have been inspired to include this idea in our blog post 'Calling all Super Heroes……..8 Amazing Party Ideas!' Included is a website mention and link back to your website. You can see the post here – http://www.billylids.com.au/blog/item/16-calling-all-super-heroes8-amazing-party-ideas.html