My daughter wanted to make something for her friends at school. We recently found out some of her friends are moving away and will not return to school in the fall. Also, we wanted to finish this school year in a cheerful way.
After a brief brainstorming, we came up with glitter jello playdough, rainbow popsicle sticks and colored pasta for gifts.
Last night, we bought a box of 1,000 popsicles at a crafting store for $6. We used the Stained Clothespins with Food Coloring recipe and direction to stain the popsicle sticks.
I chose the food coloring stain because I didn’t want children to get exposed to toxic stains. My daughter is still putting things in her mouth at age 7.
We mixed the food coloring and vinegar in the plastic cups. I personally don’t like the strong smell of vinegar but, my kids didn’t seem to mind the mixing process. I boiled water in the microwave and added the boiling water. Kids helped with placing popsicle sticks in the colored vinegar stain.
Kids were fascinated to see the stains being absorbed by each stick. I was having fun too and forgot to take pictures of my kids. We left the sticks in the cups over night.
Next morning, we found these sticks in the cups.
I loved how they turned out! My kids did too… they were clapping with excitement.
I set them out to air dry but the vinegar smell was getting to me so I decided to bake them in the oven at 245 degrees for 30 minutes.
This is how they looked when they came out from the oven. They are still damp but the vinegar smell is almost gone.
I used the remaining colored stain to color pasta. This is my first time trying out the vinegar water to color pasta. I always preferred using alcohol instead. I love how the colors turned out, they are bolder and more vibrant.
My only regret is that I didn’t wear gloves during this project. The palm of my hands have turned brown from all the stains.
As I was cleaning up, my son brings one of his wooden train track and dips it into a cup of colored stain. He wanted to stain his wooden train tracks…. can you guess what our next project will be?
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