Messy Play Recipes

Here are my favourite messy play recipes, from my Playcentre days.

Finger painting

"Finger painting is a touching, feeling, colour experience. What children need to get finger-paint basics is finger-paint which feels good and looks good. The secret to getting it feeling good is in the making and the stirring. The secret to getting it looking good is tempera powder. Tempera gives it the strong opaque colour which is ideal for expermenting with colour mixing, tints and shades. The tempera colours you need are a cool red, a cool blue, lemon yellow and white" Pennie Brownlee, Magic Places.

Ingredients
1 cups corn flour
1/2 cup cold water
2 Tbsp lux soap flakes
2 Tbsp tempera powder
Boiling water

Into a large bowl put corn flour and water, whisk it until all the corn flour is combined.

While stirring the corn flour and cold water mixture, add the boiling water (try 1/4 cup at first) very quickly and stop when the mixture 'grabs' (this is quite cool!)

Stir thoroughly until the mixture is smooth, thick and translucent.

Gradually stir in up soap flake and mix until the mixture goes white. If it is still too thick add a little water, stirring constantly until the finger-paint is smooth and creamy. Add in the tempera powder and stir.

It will keep for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

Slime
In a plastic mixing bowl place equal quantities of lux flakes and boiling water. Stir well, and then when its a little cooler, get the kids to help you beat it with a handmixer.

Gloop
Add just enough water to 1 cup of cornflour to form a thick paste.

If you want to use natural colours from plants, check this out!