Older Kid's Page

This page is for all of you older kid's.I hope that these projects will give you hours of enjoyment, or maybe some ideas for a school project. If you think that some might be too easy for you - then add your own ideas to it to make it truly yours. Maybe you don't want to do one of these but it gave you a great idea to do something else. That is fine too. Just let your creative juices flowing! Have a great time.

Sea in a Bottle

Fill a plastic soda bottle 2/3 of the way up with water and add some blue food coloring.Shake slightly to mix the food coloring. Fill the remainder of the bottle with mineral oil. Fill it all the way so no air remains when the bottle is capped. Set the bottle down on its side and you will see a layer of oil on the top with the water below it. If you tilt the bottle slowly from side to side you can watch the waves.

Invisible Ink

Dip the end of a Q-Tip into lemon juice. You will need a lot for each letter that you write. With the Q-Tip write a secret message. Let the juice dry. Give to someone. Have them move it over a heat source such as a light bulb. As it heats up your message will reappear.

Goop

Pour 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch into a bowl. Add a little water at a time, stirring constantly. When the goop is perfect you will be able to hit it with your hand and it won't splatter. You can play with it. It has properties of a solid and a liquid. A good science project to describe the properties of solids and liquids. When you are done throw it in the trash and not the sink. It may clog the drains.

Gases in a Balloon

Open a bottle of pop and immediately fit a balloon over the neck of the bottle. Pull the balloon as far down as possible so that it fits securely. Check on the balloon every 10 minutes for change. What has happened??? The soda is carbonated which means that there are gases in it. Opening the bottle releases the pressure and the gas begins to escape. The balloon traps the gas and that causes it to be inflated.

Curdling Milk

Place 2 teaspoons of lemon juice into a 1/2 cup of skim milk. Stir the milk and observe the the clumps that form. Your milk has just been curdled. You can also let your mom know that this is a good subsitute if she is short of buttermilk for a recipe.

Wind Sock

Take a large peice of construction paper and fold it around into a circle. Glue or tape in place. Take ribbon and glue into strips at one end of the circle. Make a hole at the top and put some string through it to hang. It will blow in the wind telling you what direction it is blowing. You can decorate it any way you want.

Salt Pictures

Paint a picture using watercolors. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle salt over it. The paint will look textured. You can use this for cards, stationery,etc.

Sculpting Clay

In a saucepan over medium heat you need to mix 1 cup of cornstarch, 2 cups of baking soda, and 1 1/4 cups of water. Stir until it thickens. Let it cool. Knead the dough over waxed paper, you can sculpt it into different shapes. Let them air dry and you can paint them.

Marble Painting

Get a large marble, and place it into paint. Place a large sheet of manilla paper into a large box. Take out the marble and place it into the box. Roll it around the box. You will get a cool design. Let dry.

Stationery

Take some envelopes and blank paper and design. Make them the same decorations. You can create a whole set and give as a set. Use markers, paints, rubber stamps, stickers, etc.

Bubble Paints

Take a 1/2 cup of water and add food coloring to it. Put the cup on a manilla paper, insert a straw and blow. The bubbles will blow over the sides leaving the colors in different designs. You can do this with several different colors in different cups on one picture. Let dry.

Indian Buckskin

Take a brown grocery bag and crumble it up until it is soft. Draw a picture on there with chalk. You can spray it with hair spray to set the chalk.

Pinatas

Cover your workspace with newspaper as this is pretty messy. Blow up a balloon and tie the end. Mix equal cups of flour and water. Cut newspaper into a whole bunch of 1" strips. Dip the strips into the paste one at a time and cover the balloon in several layers of newspaper. Smooth strips into place as you go. Let the balloon dry for a few days. When done carefully poke 2 small holes in it with a stick pin. You may need an adult to do this for you. Paint the balloon for what you would like it to be. If you are going for some kind of animal, you will need to cut out feathers, feet or whatever the animal needs out of construction paper or poster board and glue on. Poster board works best for paws, etc. You can also use colored tissue paper instead of painting it. You will just have to glue it on. When the glue/paint is dry, have an adult cut a small flap to the top and fill with candy or prizes, then close flap. Make 2 holes to thread string through and hang. Remember when using it that it should only be with adult supervision.

Soap Shapes

Take a soap bar and make soap flakes out of them. Pour the soap flakes into a bowl and add water until it makes a doughlike consistency. Add a few drops of food coloring to make it different colors and you can even add a few drops of scented oil if you want to make scented soap. Cover your work surface with wax paper, if you use regular paper it will stick to that. Place the dough on the wax paper, and mold into shapes. Let them dry overnight. Place them a basket and wrap to give as a gift.

Make Your Own Book

Fold 40 pages of typing paper in half. You can change this to be as little or as many pages that you want, but it is best to work with 8 page sections. Split them into 8 page sections and sew each section along the fold. You may need help with this part. A basic stitch should work fine. Cut the front and back covers of a cereal box, making sure that you keep the crease where it becomes the sides. It should be two 6"X9" peice with a 1/2" spine. (The spine is the crease and a part of the side of the box.) Place a 9X11 inch peice of wrapping paper on your workspace. Put glue on one peice of the cereal box and fold the wrapping paper till it covers it. Repeat for the other peice of cereal box. Cut 2 5X7" peices of white construction paper. Glue one to each cover peice. Glue the spines together. Then put glue on the inside of the spine and insert the 8 page sections you made earlier. Great for a book, scrapbook, etc.

Paper Airplanes

Yes I know that paper airplanes isn't the most original idea, but have you thought to decorate them? Stickers, markers, crayons, sequins, and just about anything that can be drawn with or stuck on can make a lot of difference. The kids have almost as much fun personalizing the airplanes as they do flying them!

Suncatchers

Ocean Jars

More Ideas coming. Check back soon.

Click to go to another page.

Click here for Favorite Links