Homemade school glue

A few days ago I was looking through some of my old cookbooks trying to find a recipe for Caramel pudding.  I stumbled across this recipe for making paper paste.  I thought others might be interested in the recipe too.  It can be used thick for a homemade version of paper paste or it can be thinned to be more like liquid school glue.  Did you know school glue is nothing more than corn starch? 

For this recipe put 1 1/2 cups water, 1/2 cup cornstarch, 4 tablespoons white corn syrup, and 2 teaspoons vinegar into a pot.  Cook this over low heat, while stirring constantly, until it becomes thick.   Sort of like a pudding that's just a tad too thick.  Remove from the heat.

While it's still hot add 1 1/2 cups more water and 1/2 cup more cornstarch.  Stir this together without cooking until it becomes creamy.  Like a thin pudding.

As it cools it will thicken up to about what a paper paste would look like.  Put this into a container to use for any type of craft needing paste.

To make it into a pourable school glue simply add more water, one teaspoon at a time, stirring to keep it creamy.   Stop adding water when it gets to a pourable stage.  I'm going to save a dish liquid bottle to store the more liquid version.  I'm planning to use this recipe when making my cardboard furniture too. 

UPDATE:  This homemade glue should be kept in the fridge and used within a few days.  I left mine covered and sitting on the counter to see if it could last.  This is what I got after a couple of weeks.  It started to grow green hair.  It's excellent for pasting paper. 

I also found this to be an excellent recipe for making paint for Ladybug.  Just divide the glue into some small containers and add a few drops of food colors.  She spent almost an hour playing with the paint.

A Ladybug weekend

I spent the weekend with Ladybug because the Mommie went out of town.  I forgot to take the camera.

We had a good time "cleaning" Mommie's house and cookng.  It's not easy to let children make messies while learning.  Her Mommie would have had a fit seeing what we did.  Well she was out of town and by the time she got back everything was normal.  Besides, these were the exact same ways she and her brothers learned when they were little.

Not many are willing to let children learn by creating extra work.  So I ask ya, what harm can it do to let a child wash dishes when you know you'll see lots of dish water land on the floor?  It mops up doesn't it?  What harm can it do teaching a child to mop a floor if the floor becomes a skating rink for a few minutes of fun?  Na Na taught Ladybug a thing or two about standing up on a wet floor.  Ha!  You need to hold onto the mop for balance.   Even falling became a game.   For her, not me.  My senior bones couldn't take that kind of fall.

Picking up toys became a game of toss it.  Before we knew it, all the blocks and little stuff was back in the bins.  Taking dirty clothes to the laundry room became a game of sliding down the basement steps on our bottoms with the clothes on our laps.  Shhh.... don't tell Ladybug but my bottom is quite bruised this morning. 

When my sons were little they discovered a soapy wet kitchen table and an empty plastic cup makes a great homemade version of an air hocky game.  I don't know if they remember that.  Probably not.

Ladybug tried her very best to pick up and carry a bag of trash so we could take it outside to the trash can.  When Na Na showed her the bag didn't have to be carried, it could be dragged behind her, her eyes lit up.  She felt very grown up taking out the trash for Mommie.  A little help from Na Na to open the trash can top and lift the bag was all she needed.

Mixing up a batch of muffins was no trouble.  A package mix, a little water, Ladybug learned to strir with a spoon then helped spoon it into a muffin pan.  She doesn't like blueberry muffins anymore so they were left for Mommie to eat.  Fish sticks and french fries from the freezer for supper became a counting game.  6 fish sticks for Na Na and 3 for Ladybug, one handfull of french fries for Ladybug, two for Na Na.  Everything onto a pan and into the oven.  Breaking eggs for breakfast got a little messy too.  She needs more practice to keep the egg shells out of the scrambling bowl.  Ladybug has a mean swing for cracking eggs. 

True, I did have quite a bit of cleaning up to do after the cleaning and cooking.  The fun we had was well worth it.  I hope I created a few memories while we were "cleaning" the house.   She probably won't remember this past weekend when she's older.  Not many people remember things from their age 2 experiences.  What she will remember is Na Na is fun.  After a long day of cleaning house Ladybug was ready for bed.  No trouble at all.  One bedtime book, a blankie in the hand, a thumb in the mouth, and it was restful sleep.   Na Na was exhausted so she fell asleep too. 

Today I've got to do something about cleaning my own house.   Mopping needs doing and laundry too.  Maybe Ladybug will help me when she gets here.  That might be fun for a couple of hours.  Hmm... maybe not.  I'm gonna have to find something not quite so active in order to rest up.  I'll think of something useful and quiet by then.

Bathtub crayons and green onions

An update on the green onions. Here they are at 4 days growth. I see that if I had been careful about where I cut them the first time I would have had more for the second cutting. I made the mistake of cutting too low on the stalk. I didn't leave enough of the center for new growth to come from it. Onions grow from the center of the stalks. I should have remembered that.




Yesterday was spent cleaning quilting stuff out of one of my bedrooms to make room for my daughter and her child to move back home for awhile. In my cleaning I came across this note I had made to myself a long time ago about making bathtub crayons. I can't remember where I found this recipe. I thought some of my readers might be interested in it too.

It reads:

Bathtub crayons

1 cup laundry soap

Few drops food color

Add water by spoons full until soap becomes liquid. Place in ice cube trays until it drys very hard. Placed in the sun is best.

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I've made these crayons before. Small kids really love them. It gives them a way to be messy without really being messy. I'm thinking maybe I will make some as xmas gifts this year. There are several small kids in our neighborhood and I have several grand kids.

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When making these crayons I used a mild type laundry soap. Small children might not handle a harsher soap on their skin. Something like Ivory flakes would work. Placing it in the sun will make it dry much faster. The mixture does not need to be quite liquid. It needs just enough moisture to form it into a shape. I wouldn't use much food color either. Too much and your child might start changing color with each bath.