A Halloween craft for children could be in the kitchen cabinets.
Local potter Elizabeth Reynolds suggests hitting the basics this Halloween and having some fun with homemade Play-Doh.
It takes less than 10 minutes to cook the dough and children can enjoy making it as well as playing with it.
One batch of dough can make at least four pumpkins that children can mold and paint. Other easy-to-make shapes include ghosts, spiders and bats, Reynolds said.
Ingredients needed are:
- 2 cups flours
- 1 cup salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups water
- Food coloring (optional)
To cook the dough, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat on high until the sauce begins to thicken.
Lower the heat and stir for three to five minutes, or until dough is thick and lumpy like mashed potatoes.
"As the water cooks out you will see it change," she said. "When it starts getting lumpy that's a sign it is toward ready."
Remove the dough from heat, knead it and let it cool at least 20 minutes before beginning a project.
Reynolds said food coloring can be added while cooking the dough, but that it won't come out too dark. Instead of adding food coloring, she suggests creating plain dough and painting it afterwards.
To make a pumpkin, create a ball. Then use the thumb to pinch the ball and push out the sides of it, like creating a pot. Then, flatten the bottom so it sits flat and create a lid and/or stem for the top, Reynolds said.
To create lines on the pumpkin, she suggests using a paintbrush, pencil or knife. Acrylic paint can be used to paint the dough.
Another exciting craft to do with dough is to play a game like Pictionary, she said. Cards can be created to reflect Halloween-themed items and then players can pick a card and try to mold that item with the dough for others to guess what it is.
Reynolds began working with clay in 1991 and became hooked on the art of molding objects. She said when she made Play-Doh for her son the first time that she was amazed at how long he played with it.
Teaching classes at Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, Reynolds said she sees how art activities, like creating tshapes out of Play-Doh, helps children to develop their creativity.
"It opens their minds," she said.
Reach Crystal Garcia crystal.garcia@northaugustatoday.com.
