Frankenstein school treats

With a storm upon us and Halloween (the real day) imminent we decided to make some favors for the boys classmates.  I had not heard of either of their rooms doing a Halloween party.  I just don't get it, that is such a fun part of being a kid, but I am guessing it is because of the hyper kid sugar issue.  I had to bring the boys into school today anyways so I figured I would bring some Halloween, the teachers love my disruptions (very sarcastically!)

The boys actually both had 8 AM dentist appointments today.  Yes I know it is Halloween, yes I know I will not be getting a mom of the year mug for this one but with how hard it is to get dentist appointments we take them when we can get them.  Great check up no cavities!  And my oldest will not be needing braces in the future!!  The other four are to young to tell yet.

We did not stay home during the storm.  It was not the big deal people were making it out to be.  The first day we did a playdate and lunch.  And the second day well....

I had planned to do a project/ treat for the AWANAS kids at church.  Since babies are abundant in our house we have lots of baby food jars I horded kept.  But with the HUNDREDS of children that attended our AWANAS program I still did not have enough.  I asked the church and more bags and  boxes of jars came in but still not enough.  Plus my husband and I had both been looking for green candy to fill the jars with for months but could not find any.  When we did it was green/sour apple flavor (yuck) or mints and kids are not to fond of that.  Plus the green/ sour apple flavored jelly beans or liquorice that we did find we would have had to buy in such large amounts and we were not even getting bulk pricing for it, an it was ridiculous in cost.

But with the 2 days off for Frankenstorm we had time and and urge to craft.  the boys love it and it keeps them busy.  Knowing the schools strong avoidance to sugar I though we could just fill them with play-do.  Why did I not think of this earlier for the AWANAS kids?  Oh yeah because the go from 3 years to 6th grade and most 6 graders no longer play with play-do, I think?.

I looked up play-do recipes online and I had what is needed to make it so we went ahead with their project.

My crazy boys glued google eyes to 40 baby jars.  36 students make up their schools 1-3 grade, lower elementary.  They are divided into 2 classes 1  of my boys in each one.  Then just a few extra because you never know.



While the eyes dried we made the play-do.



Basic ingredient ratios:
5 cups flour
6 cups warm water
3 cups salt
7 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)
food coloring 
scented oils or I used a packet of mulling spice since I had it

This made a lot of play-do.  This is enough for 7 kids to have a nice amount  but still barely enough to put an inch and a half in 40 jars.

Well I thought I had enough but as I pored the salt I realized I did not even have half a cup.  I had to go out.  I had to go out after the hurricane hit and I knew most everything was closed.  Heck Walmart even closed.  They never close.  I went to the closet gas station which is a Rutters and if you know what that is it is one of those gas stations that also has a small convince store of whatever you might need for astronomical prices.  But it was sold out.  I wondered where else I could go?  I did not want to drive all around from one closed place to another.  I did not have that much time or gas.  Plus as I ventured out I could see what had happened to my little town and it was severely flooded.  I could not believe all my lucky neighbors who now have ponds on their property.  But how many of them have pools in their basement like I do?

I thought about the local Amish market I bet they are open.  They are always open unless it is Sunday  Don't fool yourself if they can make money they will.  They will be open.  They probably did not even know the storm was coming.  Nah, they do do get newspaper, because they can sell them.  It was just another mile down the road so I went and yes they were open.  I was able to get my salt and a few other items I did not even know I wanted but that looked good.  And they laughed at me as I told them what I was doing.  "kids driving you nuts Karen?  Need something for them to do?"  Aw shut up Amish girl.  (She won't even know I wrote that about her!)



After you have everything you should have in the first place mix it all together over medium heat.



I saw a note that said if your dough is still sticky cook it longer.  Mine was so I tried this and it seemed that it was starting to burning to the pan.  So I gave up and just added more oil.  Not the best idea either but at this point I was tired of our project.



Start stuffing it into the jars.  Then to keep it from hardening I put a small piece of tin foil over the top. i thought it would be okay if a little silver showed it after all Frankenstein was a built monster.  The boys drew on faces and then we covered the foil with a small piece of black fabric to look like his hair.  To fasten it on and make it look like Frankenstein we took pipe cleaners and warped them around the lid of the jar and where the ends meet we twisted them to look like his blots.  Our pipe cleaners were multi colored so that is kinda what they ended up with.



But I hope they were a hit with their friends.  



Next year however we will try something different.  And yes that is Santa in the background.  We have been counting down since August.  He is always watching!