A Dabble in Kids Crafts

Yesterday I had a very fun and exciting night with my two favorite little girls. They are kids of some friends from church. The girls are two and a half and five. We don't have a lot of toys and fun things for kids at our house except for Kaiser, our dog, who seems to be a pretty big hit among the kids.

I only found out they'd be with me for the night just the day before and with the rest of my busy life I didn't really have time to plan any "activities." So this was definitely a thrown together craft with stuff that I just happened to have lying around. A few items from my pantry and we had homemade play dough.

I found this recipe from http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-playdough-recipes/ and it was a huge success!

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup salt
3 TBS oil
1 package of Koolaid
food coloring (optional - I added a few drops of red because the girls wanted pink or red Play dough. 

Mix in a pot on the stove over medium heat. After a few minutes it will heat to the consistency of Playdoh. Cool completely before you let little hands touch! (If you are reading this JoAnna, I did not find this out the hard way, Don't worry!)

Whipped Shea Butter Lotion

This past winter I had terribly dry skin mixed with an allergic reaction to chemicals I use at work. It was bad. My hands hurt, they were red and itchy. It got so bad that it was spreading up my arms and chest. My knuckles bled. It was not pretty at all.

I tried all kinds of lotions and creams. Nothing seemed to help. So I resorted to the Internet and my "natural" resources. I tried Coconut Oil first and that seemed to help. Then I tried a sample of Shea Butter and I fell in love!

So here is the my recipe. I gathered ideas from a bunch of sources including websites, blogs and books. This recipe contains both coconut oil and shea butter and is the best lotion you will ever use.

Note: Coconut oil can be found at most grocery stores. I bought my last jar of oil from Walmart. Most natural or organic stores will have a larger selection. The shea butter, I found at Everything Natural in Clarks Summit, but other stores like Whole Foods will have a selection.


This recipe will yield about 8 oz. of lotion

1/4 c. Shea Butter
2 Tbsp. Coconut oil
20 drops of your preference of essential oil (I used 10 peppermint, 10 lemon)

Step 1:
Melt the butter and oil in a double boiler or (as I do) in a glass dish in a pot of boiling water.

Step 2:
After it is completely liquefied, remove from heat and cool slightly. I put the bowl in the freezer for about five minutes. I just wanted it to start hardening but not to the point it became solid again.

Step 3:
With a hand mixer and whisk attachment. Whisk the mixture until it becomes fluffy and lotion type consistency. This will probably take about 5-10 minutes. If it isn't fluffing up after 10 minutes, the liquid needs to be cooler.

Step 4:
Transfer to a jar or container. My mixture fit perfectly in a 8 oz. mason jar. Enjoy!