If you have kids I bet they love to play with clay. If they're older, I bet they'd love to make things that would last. TheLog In would be great for them! It's great for beginners and it comes with a bunch of colors that they can choose from. It has enough clay to make small figures or one large one (as long as you don't need a lot of the same color). You would need an oven to bake them in as long as it's not your home oven. Although you CAN use your own oven if you tent your pieces, but I recommend using a separate mini oven for them. They can shape the clay and play to their hearts delight and then bake their finished pieces to continue playing with them.
Crafts are great for kids, they stimulate their imaginations, and can give them a sense of accomplishment and mastery. I have a friend who uses polymer clay, and we were just discussing this the other day. She has several appliances she has bought separately for use with the clay, and she's really big into garage and estate sales, as well as thrift shopping, so these are some places to look for lower cost dedicated units for this purpose. I can't remember what all she uses, but I remember she mentioned a toaster oven, a small chopper, and a pasta machine.
I've always been very cautious about letting kids use the oven. I mind some kids down the road who love doing clay crafts and the like. Their parents considered getting them an oven for the different clay sculptures and models they'd make, but ended up just opting to supervise them usig the kitchen oven, saves money and decreases the potential for burnt little fingers!
When you use the oven it must be with adult supervision. Nothing in their reach of course. Just helping them up to place things inside and then an adult takes them out. The reason I, and most manufacturers, don't recommend the regular kitchen oven is because these clays do emit a certain "odor" and the oven is just like every other crafting tool/equipment, you don't want to use them for your food also.
Hmm, I've never had much of an experience with any odors coming from the clay. There's a generic clay scent, but it's hardly noticeable and has never had an effect on any cooking.
LOL You like to live on the "wild side"!!! LOLOL I usually stick to the label and website warnings especially when it comes to chemicals. It's why I prefer using baking soda mixture and not that oven cleaning spray. Forgot the name of it right now.
I bought some sculpy a long time ago. It was a lot of fun. It was actually easier to work with than the fimo I had used before that. My only issue was the price. I enjoy doing the crafts with the kids, and a lot of times I can get the husband involved, too. I just have to find something I can afford for 4 or more people.
Try paper crafts! You can download various designs of (potentially) their favourite characters, print it out on cardboard or thick paper and end up making little models for them to play with! There are tons of things you can make, ranging from props from certain shows to little characters who just sit on your shelf!
Yes. I agree paper crafts can be fun. You can also try making your own dough at home. Making it is actually something you all may enjoy doing too!
That's really new for me, I never knew that you guys use oven to bake clay for kids. I don't have any kids, but when I was little, we play mud! Yes, it's MUD. Anyways, I think parents need to be more careful about that cause it could release chemical gas which is not good for health.
How do you make your dough? I've used a mixture of flour and water to make it nice and malleable. I've never tried baking it though. It ends up with a similar consistency to playdough.
I also used the flour/salt/water dough. I made the mistake of letting it air dry and it ended up with some ants on it (it was outside). I cleaned it all off and baked it. It's pretty hard but then again I baked it for like an hour at 275-300. I never baked it before, I would use it without baking but I needed to bake it this time because I'm working on some polymer clay stuff and need a base and it's much less inexpensive to use it as a base than actual polymer. When I baked it though the bottom which as supposed to be flat rounded out a bit so I'll have to sand it down. After baking I left it outside again and didn't have ants issues. It's pretty hard but I haven't given it the "toddler" test.
I didn't think it would hold up after baking! Here I was thinking it'd just evaporate the water and become crumbly! If it works even as a base, it could save a good bit of money for making bigger pieces! Let me know if you ever do the "Toddler" test! Seems like that would be the best way to test anything haha!