Kids Make: Crunchy Baked Cotton Balls

Supplies:

  • Cotton balls
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup water
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Food coloring
  • Baking sheet
  • Small bowls or cups
  • Either cooking spray or tin foil
  • An adult to help with the oven

Directions:

  1. Mix 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of water in the large bowl.
  2. Get your baking sheet ready by spraying it with baking spray or covering it with tin foil.
  3. Divide the flour and water mixture into 4 to 6 small bowls or cups, depending on how many colors you want.
  4. Add 5 to 8 drops of food coloring to each cup and mix well. Remember that you can make different colors by mixing the food coloring; red and yellow make orange and blue and red make purple.
  5. Dip each cotton ball into a cup. Be sure to cover the whole cotton ball with the mixture – make it nice and thick.
  6. Set the coated cotton balls on your baking sheet.
  7. Let an adult help you with this part. Bake your cotton balls in a 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes.
  8. After that, take the cotton balls out and let them cool completely – at least an hour. They should have a nice, hard, crunchy shell.
  9. Find a small hammer, a toy hammer, or even a rock. Take your cotton balls outside and - SMASH THEM WITH THE HAMMER! That’s right – smash away.

Extra fun:

Use more cotton balls to make a baked sculpture. Use the same dipping method, but keep the sculpture in the over a little longer – about 55 minutes. You can make and smash a crunchy monster!

To watch this project visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvw4q6cr6xY&list=PLMEg2Dd0dSFctLfDQxsL5…