adajohn010: Dramatic Play in the Kitchen

Showing posts with label Dramatic Play in the Kitchen. Show all posts

Monday, November 26, 2018

Craft a Yule Log Cake Candy Container

newblogger November 26, 2018 0 Comments

This chocolate Yule log cake isn't really a cake! It's a candy container made to order for our family's play room.
Above you can see that the painted, plastic lid is on the tray and the peppermint candies are falling out from the
inside of my candy container on the right.

      When my children were little, we often baked a special Christmas birthday cake for Jesus. Sometimes it would be fashioned into a tree or a yule log. One year, the birthday cake even resembled an entire forest of pines, dusted with powdered sugar.
       Parents and/or Teachers can help their young ones shape a candy container made to look like a chocolate yule log cake with the following supplies. Stuff it with candy treats and scriptures from the Nativity story if you'd like to start a new family tradition similar to our own.
       Natalie, my eldest, will be posting a lesson plan and contest giving away a lovely set of Christmas books about Jesus' birthday celebration, for little ones, in a few days. I will link to her here as soon as she publishes it. Below is the first of the two books she is giving away, read aloud at YouTube.

A Birthday Party for Jesus by Susan Jones

Yule Log Candy Container Supply List:

Run your fingertips across the ends of a toothbrush dipped in
white paint to create a snowy mist of powdered sugar on the
surface of your faux, chocolate yule log cake.

recycled cylindrical oatmeal can and potato chip can
masking tape
paper mache pulp
plastic fork, scissors
nail for poking holes and hammer
acrylic paints in brown and white
transparent glitter
white school glue
paint brushes
old, clean toothbrush (no longer in use)
wooden tooth picks
markers to color the printable pictures
dollar store silver cake platter

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Select a large recycled oatmeal can to be the primary yule log shape. Cut a second smaller potato chip can or juice can to cut down and tape to the larger part of the faux log as a cut branch.
Glue and tape the cut branches into place.
Cover the entire outside of the faux yule log with masking tape.
Leave the opening and plastic lid for the larger oatmeal can in tact so that the yule log may be used as a box for surprise presents/candy.
Mix together the paper mache pulp according to the directions on the package.
Apply the paper pulp to every outside surface approximately 1/2 inch in thickness.
Drag the prongs of a plastic fork through the covered surface to create a ''ribbed'' rough looking chocolate icing.
Let the paper pulp application dry. Depending on the weather this could take two days or a week.
Cover the entire outside surface of the dried yule log candy container with brown paint and let it dry.
Mix a bit of white into the brown paint and brush another layer on the raised surfaces only. Let the log dry.
Add the inside swirl of white vanilla cream to the ends of the log where it would normally show after someone would cut the jelly role cake in half. (see photos)
Now water down a bit of white paint in a separate dish.
Dip the toothbrush into thick white paint and thin dip it into the watery white paint.
Face the tips of the toothbrush away from yourself, pointing to the areas of the faux Yule log cake where you wish to lightly apply white sprinkles of paint. Move your fingers up and down the bristles of the toothbrush in order to wisp on a white mist of light paint. This should look just like the powdered sugar that is normally applied through a sifter onto the surface of a chocolate yule cake to mimic snow. Let the paint dry.
Apply a bit of white school glue to the areas of the faux cake that you want to sprinkle the transparent glitter.
Let the cake dry completely before gently pressing a nail or the sharp end tip of a pair of scissors through the top of the yule log. These tiny holes will be where you can insert the decorative picks after you have colored them.
I've included a sheet of tiny pictures below for children to color, cut out, and glue toothpicks to the backside of in order to decorate the top of their yule log cake, candy container. (see photos)
Don't forget to paint the lid of the candy container as well. Paint it to match the other ends of the yule log, with a vanilla swirl in the middle.

Left, select a large recycled oatmeal can to be the primary yule log shape. Center, cover the
entire outside of the faux yule log with masking tape. Right, drag the prongs of a plastic fork through the
covered surface to create a ''ribbed'' rough looking chocolate icing.

Left, cover the entire outside surface of the dried yule log candy container with brown paint
and let it dry. Center, Add the inside swirl of white vanilla cream to the ends of the log where
it would normally show after someone would cut the jelly role cake in half. I also glued on
a real pine cone for detail. Right, the paper mache pulp texture looks like chocolate icing to me!

Left, Move your fingers up and down the bristles of the toothbrush in order to wisp on a
white mist of light paint. This should look just like the powdered sugar. Center, I also painted
white snow on my faux chocolate pine cone. Right, the glitter gives the log even
more snowy appeal.

left, let the cake dry completely before gently pressing a nail or the sharp end tip of a pair of
scissors through the top of the yule log. These tiny holes will be where you can insert the
decorative picks after you have colored them. Center, The decorative picks are made from
the printable below and toothpicks. Right, now it's time to fill the Yule log candy container
up with Christmas candy!

Don't forget to paint the lid of the candy container as well. Paint it to match the other ends of the
yule log, with a vanilla swirl in the middle.

Above is a sheet of Christmas Clip Art for you to decorate a Yule Log Cake with.
Mount the pictures to the tips of wooden toothpicks with school glue. Poke them
through either a faux cake like ours or a real cake top to decorate for the holidays.

More Yule Logs and Christmas Cake Crafts:

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Crush & Craft Pretend Potatoes

newblogger June 26, 2018 0 Comments

Our pretend potatoes for the market stall.

Any child can craft pretend potatoes with very little effort! After your small one has mastered this easy craft, challenge him or her to sculpt something a bit more difficult.

Place fruits and veggies in on a table and have the him touch and explore the organic shapes and textures. Next ask him shape the aluminum foil into more advanced shapes such as carrots or turnips or maybe even a pumpkin.

Before you know it, you'll have plenty of veggies for an entire pretend veggie stand to play with!

Supply List:

aluminum foil
masking tape
brown paper bags
white school glue
Mod Podge optional
stapler
recycled netting from potato bag

Step-by-Step Directions:

Tear off large 12"x12" squares of aluminum foil.
Shape the foil into silver potatoes, you won't need to crush these down so much!
Leave the bumpy parts of the potatoes alone, when these are covered with brown paper, they will look more realistic.
Cover these shapes with masking tape.
Now cover the shapes with white school glue and shredded, brown grocery bags.
Let the pretend potatoes dry over night.
Save the netted bag that comes with your real potatoes at the grocery bag.
Fold, mask and staple some of the printed grocery bags to seal the pretend bag of potatoes inside of their very own netting. (photos of this process below)

Left, Shape foil into potatoes shapes. Middle, cover these with masking tape. Right,
Now cover the shapes with white school glue and shredded, brown grocery bags.

Cut, fold, tape, staple and trim the paper ends of your potato prop.

Cut the top handle of a brown grocery bag off, tape and staple the top end of the potato net into it as shown above.

Make More Pretend Foods:

# Dramatic Play in the Kitchen # food crafts made with paper mache

Monday, June 25, 2018

Crafting burlap coffee bean bags and purchasing a burr mill...

newblogger June 25, 2018 0 Comments

Pretend burlap bags are stuffed with cotton and used for play
in a children's market stall.

Our family nursery has so many old-world props for grandchildren to play with while learning about Midwestern history and culture. Below are directions for making very simple burlap bags to contain pretend food stuffs like coffee, flour, potatoes and rice. And I have also purchased a coffee grinder at resale for $3.00 to teach the kids how coffee and flour were processed in small amounts prior to the invention of electric grinders.

Burlap is processed from jute or hemp. Before the Civil War, my family farmed hemp in Missouri. Hemp is like the industrial version of jute. Hemp was sometimes used to make bags for storing and transferring all kinds of food product to market. It is most often used now to make rope and durable carpets. Jute, which is a similar plant, was used to make fabric for ticking (a utility fabric). Over time, paper bags, tin cans and foil bags replaced burlap in the shipping and storing of coffee to the general public, because these were much cheaper to manufacture.

Although the early burlap bags were printed in mass manually with the use of a silk screen, our simple process will achieve a similar result with art supplies easily found in every American home.

The coffee grinder in our family nursery is new but it's design
dates back to those burr mills manufactured just after The
Civil War. It is one of many interesting kitchen tools that is
displayed in my old-fashioned, play kitchen.

Supply List:

Off-white burlap fabric, 3/8 yard (Use scraps if you have them instead)
a black permanent Sharpie marker with a wide tip
dental floss
embroidery needle
heavy twine or a red yarn alternative
a plastic bag or tin foil
cotton batting
paper grocery bag with red printing (optional)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Cut the burlap to whatever size you would prefer for this easy sewing craft. Mine are approximately 12" x 6".
Use a sheet of plastic or tin foil to protect whatever drawing surface you wish to work on top of. This is because the weave of burlap is very loose and the permanent ink marker may transfer to the surface beneath the burlap while you are lettering your design.
I drew my letters with a soft number 2 pencil before tracing over these with a black, permanent ink marker.
It's important to use a wide tip marker so that this tip will stand up to the rough surface of the burlap while you press into it.
It is also important to work on top of a off-white colored burlap in order for your ink based lettering to show up well.
I also added a few, small coffee bean graphics to my sample, burlap bag shown above. I also stapled a strip of paper trim to the rice bag version, just to add a bit of color to it.
Sew around the circumference of of each bag several times with a machine straight stitch, leaving a big enough opening to turn the bag right sides out.
Stuff your bags with cotton batting and then use a whip stitch with dental floss to seal them up. This floss is very durable and will keep the loose burlap threads tightly bound together.
Now add a bit of red thread trim using an embroidery needle if you'd prefer.

Burr mills were commonly used in early American kitchens. A burr mill, or burr grinder, is a mill used to grind hard, small food products between two revolving abrasive surfaces separated by a distance usually set by the user. When the two surfaces are set far apart, the resulting ground material is coarser, and when the two surfaces are set closer together, the resulting ground material is finer and smaller.Often, the device includes a revolving screw that pushes the food through. It may be powered electrically or manually.

Burr mills do not heat the ground product by friction as much as do blade grinders ("choppers"), and produce particles of a uniform size determined by the separation between the grinding surfaces.

Food burr mills are usually manufactured for a single purpose: coffee beans, dried peppercorns, coarse salt, spices, or poppy seeds, for example. Coffee mills are usually powered by electric motors; domestic pepper, salt, and spice mills, used to sprinkle a little seasoning on food, are usually operated manually, sometimes by a battery-powered motor.

Left, The first coffee-grinder patent in the United States was issued to Thomas Bruff, Sr. in 1798.
Right, English and French coffee grinders in the nineteenth century.

The photograph above shows coffee grinders or burr mills kept in a Museum in Wisconsin.
The photo itself was taken in 1873. On the far right you can see a burr mill similar to the one
we have on display in the Grimm nursery.

If you like, you could add stenciled images to your burlap bags.

This process achieves a similar effect to those older designs
using a silk screen, without the equipment needed to develop

that printing process.

# Dramatic Play in the Kitchen # sewing for your dolls

Monday, June 18, 2018

Craft Jams & Jellies for A Pretend Kitchen

newblogger June 18, 2018 0 Comments

My pretend preserves are cooling on the window seal. Soon someone small will have a charming,
new addition to her old-fashioned, play pantry.

Any older brother or sister can craft these adorable, homemade jelly or jam jars for a child sized market stall or play kitchen! It's a simple craft that looks like just like real preserves! You can choose to draw pictures of fruit fillings, apply stickers or Mod Podge free, fruit clip art from the web onto the labels I have provided below. The age of your crafter will predetermine whichever steps you decide to take when decorating these labels.

Draw a larger circle using a pencil, onto
the wrong side of your fabric selections.
Cut an additional 1/2 inch margin around
the circle for a proper ruffle if making a
template from the jelly jar itself.

Supply List:

four glass or plastic containers
four acrylic paint colors: blue, purple, red and orange
labels for jellies and jams
stickers of fruit (optional)
Mod Podge
soft paint brush
scissors
pencils, crayons or paint for coloring fruit
calico or gingham cotton fabric (scraps)
rubber bands

Step-by-Step Directions:

Gather your supplies before beginning. You do not need to use glass jars like mine, if you are afraid they might break when handled by little ones roughly. There are many grocery products on the market that come in similar styles and sizes to mine that are made from plastic. I used four glass yogurt jars that look just like old-fashioned jelly jars for this craft.
Clean the jars with warm soap and water; removing any labels from the outside of the jar with a bit of elbow grease, of course.
Squeeze a small amount of paint into each jar and cover the entire surface of the inside of the jars with color. Rotate the jars from side to side until there is a nice even coat of paint. Drain the excess of paint back into the paint containers if possible. Let the paint in each jar harden over night before proceeding to the following steps.
Using a round template/pattern (from a glass or plate or the jar plus 1/2 inch), draw a larger circle using a pencil, onto the wrong side of your fabric selections. Repeat this four times for each jar of jam. Make sure that the circles are larger than the top openings of your pretend jam/jelly jars by at least one half inch. You will need this much fabric to hang over the outer rims all the way around each jar in order to seal them with a rubber band. Mothers and Grandmothers often decorate their home made preserves with similar fabric rounds after canning themselves.
Set these fabric lid covers aside for wrapping the tops of each jar later.
Now print out the labels that I have included for the project below.
You can choose to draw and then color in four separate fruits for each label: grapes, apricots, strawberries, and blue berries. Alternatively, you could use some colorful, fruity stickers to decorate each label before applying them with Mod Podge instead of drawing and coloring the fruits if you wish.
Use the blue berry label for a jar painted with blue acrylic, a strawberry label for a red painted jar, an apricot label for an orange painted jar and finally a purple painted jar for the grape jelly label.
After coloring in or decoupaging each label with stickers, apply Mod Podge to the surface areas of each jar of jam and carefully stick the labels onto the painted jars. Let the surface dry and repeat an application of Mod Podge on top of the labels to protect them from play.
Now secure a fabric round to the top of each jar with a rubber band. (see photo)

Left, Clean the jars with warm soap and water. Right, Let the paint in each jar harden over night before proceeding.

Here I have drawn some free labels for your jam & jelly jars.

I added yellow, calico, fabric lids to my pretend preserves.

Crafting For An Old-Fashioned Kitchen:

# Dramatic Play in the Kitchen

Thursday, June 14, 2018

How to Clean a Vintage Copper Coal Scuttle

newblogger June 14, 2018 0 Comments


Left is the Dutch copper coalscuttle or coal bucket purchased for fifty cents. I've given it a good cleaning (Right) so that little ones may use it for dramatic play in our family's old-fashioned play kitchen. Children can learn much about social history when parents and educators include items such as this one in their play areas.

A coal scuttle, sometimes spelled coalscuttle and also called a hod, "coal bucket", or "coal pail", is a bucket-like container for holding a small, intermediate supply of coal convenient to an indoor coal-fired stove or heater.

Coal scuttles are usually made of metal and shaped as a vertical cylinder or truncated cone, with the open top slanted for pouring coal on a fire. It may have one or two handles. Homes that don't use coal sometimes use a coal scuttle decoratively. I purchase this Dutch copper, coalscuttle at a flee market. It was filthy! However, I cleaned it up with a home recipe and it now is used as a decorative/toy item in the downstairs playroom of my home.

Supply List:

table salt
large deep plastic bucket (don't use a nice one)
giant jug of white distilled vinegar
paper towels or soft rag
scrub brush (not for use in combination with foods)

Step-by-Step Directions:

First, clean off the dirt and grime on the coalscuttle that may be removed with soap and water.
Choose a large, plastic bucket that will easily hold fluids and the coalscuttle. You want the the bucket to hold a fairly large amount of vinegar. I chose a very deep bucket to clean my copper coal bucket in.
You can lay the bucket on it's side and rotate it in the solution to get an even soak all around both the inside and outside parts of your coalscuttle, as it soaks.
Add approximately 1/4 cup of table salt to a gallon of white distilled vinegar.
Let the dirty copper/brass scuttle soak for several hours. Turn the scuttle from side to side periodically.
You will see immediate results, however be prepared to soak the cooper item(s) in the solution for several hours in order to get the desired level of cleaning.
Pour the solution out onto a driveway, gravel bed etc... onto unwanted weeds. This will not only kill unwanted plant growth but protect your grass or ground water sources from the vinegar solution after you have used it.
Wash the coalscuttle with warm soapy water again and rub it down with a dray, soft rag. Throw the rag away.

Ads from old newspapers depicting and describing the use of a coalscuttle.

The hot labor making coal kitchen versus the sanitary
all gas kitchen from 1913.

Is Your Cooking a Fireman's Job? advertisement

The advertisement above reads, "Are you handling coal and ashes; keeping the kitchen range red-hot for baking, or covering the coals for stewing? Why not do away with the constant attention demanded by the coal stove--the irregular heat--the shifting of pots and kettle-- the smut and smoke-- woodpile and coal scuttle?"

Farm Life in The Rural Midwestern Farm.

Social History of Midwestern Families 100 Years Ago:

# Dramatic Play in the Kitchen

adajohn010

Monday, November 26, 2018

Craft a Yule Log Cake Candy Container

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Crush & Craft Pretend Potatoes

Monday, June 25, 2018

Crafting burlap coffee bean bags and purchasing a burr mill...

Monday, June 18, 2018

Craft Jams & Jellies for A Pretend Kitchen

Thursday, June 14, 2018

How to Clean a Vintage Copper Coal Scuttle

Featured Post

Arranging Your dining Room furnishings

Labels

Follow Us @soratemplates