Popcorn Cob: How to Pop Popcorn from a Cob

Popcorn Cob? Yes, this is a thing! And if you haven’t tried this yet, I highly recommend it.

This is a fun activity in the fall months when dry corncobs, also known as Indian Corn, are abundant. We recently visited a local farm. After watching them mill dried corn into animal feed, they sent us home with organic cobs of dried corn to make into popcorn. Amazing, right?

Did you know that it’s perfect for popping? I didn’t, so for us this was a true, yummy experiment.

This post contains affiliate links.

Where can I find Popcorn on the Cob?

If you don’t have a source for dried corn cobs like we did, don’t worry! You can find them in some gourmet shops and online.

We’ve picked dried Indian Corn at farm stands, and Farmer’s Popcorn Cobs at Sur La Table and Amazon: beautiful ears of corn, non-GMO + Kansas grown.

Supplies for Corn Cob Popcorn

Farmer’s Popcorn Cob (Amazon, pack of 3)

Paper Bags

Microwave

Before you start

To build excitement and curiosity, ask some questions about popcorn and how it’s made.

What happens when we put dried popcorn and oil on the stovetop?

What do you think will happen if we put dried popcorn in the microwave?

Do you think it would be the same or different if we microwave dried corn cob?

How to make Popcorn with a Dried Corn Cob

Place the cob in a brown paper lunch bag.
Fold the bag up a couple times to keep the steam in
Cook the cob in the microwave. Set it to a popcorn setting if you have that.

My little one (with face paint) was so excited when it started popping in the microwave. We cooked it on the popcorn setting, which is about two and half minutes long. As with any other popcorn, open the microwave door when the popping sounds slow down.

We opened it up for a peek, and it was gorgeous.

Marvel at how much popcorn came off of one little cob!

The ends of this ear didn’t pop off and actually singed up a bit. My daughter loved the whole process, right on down to eating the corn.

Click here to get our free downloadable list of 50 fun ways to celebrate fall with kids.

To extend this into a fun literacy moment, read The Popcorn Book by Tomie de Paola. It’s funny, and an instant childhood favorite. My kids love it.

When we read the book we learned that “The Colonists like it [popcorn] so much that they served popcorn for breakfast with cream poured on it.” Try turning your popcorn into an old fashioned breakfast treat with Popcorn Cereal.

How to make corncob popcorn - an easy and fun fall treat for kids. from TinkerLab

More Fall Ideas for Kids

50 Things to do with your family this fall. Are you wondering what to do with the family this fall? Get the free Great Big Family Fall List!

Make Pumpkin Pie Playdough. A sensory favorite for toddlers and preschoolers. > Pumpkin Pie Playdough Recipe

Leaf Collages. If you have access to leaves, I have two really easy projects for you that you can do right away. Try the Tree Trunk Leaf Collage or Contact Paper Autumn Collage.

Warm your home with this pretty lantern. Make this beautiful fall lantern from crayons.

Create a Leaf Craft: There are so many fall leaf crafts! For example, Make Leaf Critters or try Coffee Filter Leaf Sun Catchers

Make Apple Prints: How to Set up an Apple Printing Station

Preserved Leaves. Avoid watching your beautiful fall leaves break apart and try preserving them in glycerin.

DIY Pumpkin Pie Playdough

By Rachelle 28 Comments

Have you ever made your own play dough? While I’m a fan of store bought dough (it’s so easy!), making your own is a money saver and we can make TONS of it in minutes. And with the simple addition of a little pumpkin pie spice, our dough smells heavenly…just like pumpkin pie!

Also, this is first on our big Family Fall List of 50 things to do this autumn, so check!

Inspired by The Artful Parent’s Autumn Arts and Crafts book, The Artful Year: Autumn, we made this seasonal scent that’s perfect for autumn: Pumpkin Pie!

Pumpkin Pie Playdough Recipe…

Playdough is a wonderful material for building fine motor skills, developing imaginations through exploratory play, and supporting early engineering and building skills. This recipe rivals anything store-bought.

I used our favorite play dough recipe, which also happens to be the favorite of my daughter’s awesome preschool class (and the BEST play dough recipe, hands-down), so I’m not going to get experimental with the dough itself, but we did experiment with the spice combination.

The dough itself takes about 20 minutes to prepare, it cooks on the stove-top, and the key ingredient is cream of tartar. If you can’t find it locally, cream of tartar is on Amazon, of course (affiliate).

Yes, you can find 2-minute dough recipes like this no-cook dough, and I’d encourage you to use them if you’re short on time, but the benefit of this recipe is that it will last for ages. Ages. I kid you not.

Click here to download the free printable pumpkin pie playdough recipe card (PDF)

Ingredients

5 cups water
2 1/2 cups salt
3 tbsp. cream of tartar
10 tbsp. vegetable oil
5 cups flour
Food coloring or liquid watercolors
Pumpkin Pie Spice, or a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom

Steps

Mix everything but the food coloring together in a large pot until somewhat smooth. It will be lumpy. Not to worry, the dough will get smoother as it cooks.
Cook the dough over a low heat. Mix frequently. The water will slowly cook out of the mixture and you’ll notice it starts to take on a sticky dough appearance.
Keep mixing until the edges of the dough along the side and bottom of the pan appear dry. Pinch a piece of dough. If it’s not gooey, the dough is ready.
Place the dough on a counter top or large cutting board or cooking tray that can withstand a little food coloring.
Knead the warm dough until it’s smooth and then divide it into the number of colors that you’d like to make. We divided our in half: one orange and the other white.
Flatten the ball, add a little bit of food coloring, and knead it in. Add more food coloring to get the desired shade.
Store the dough in a large Ziplock bag or sealed container. Unused, it’ll keep for months.

"Smells Amazing" Pumpkin Pie Play Dough | TinkerLab.com

After we made the dough, I placed it on the counter to cool. Meanwhile, my 2-year old worked away at pinching out a real pie crust.

When the dough was cool to touch, we squeezed orange liquid watercolors on half of it and then kneaded it in. For this step, be sure to mix on a surface that won’t absorb the watercolors. My 4-year old wanted to make half the dough orange and half of it white.

Although we had planned to use a jar of pumpkin pie spice in the dough, my 4-year old was curious about using whole spices that we just bought, so we pulled out the coffee grinder and gave it a very loud whirl. Fun! I don’t have a proper nutmeg grinder, but this seemed to do the trick. And the smell of cardamom — I absolutely love it.

We experimented with the spice blend by adding the different spices, first quite cautiously and then rather liberally, and in different combinations. I learned that my 4-year old isn’t too crazy about the smell of cardamom, but loves cinnamon.

My 2-year old was very happy, however, to shake-shake-shake the pie spices all over her gigantic mound of dough. Can you imagine how yummy our kitchen smelled?

After all this cooking, it was time to bake! At this point, our orange and white/tan doughs marbled into something lovely, and we got busy making small cakes and setting them out to eat on a 3-tier plate server.

But, don’t just take it from me that this play dough is awesome. Kelly from Wonder & Create Art Studio tested the playdough with her kids and says, “To get a fall fever fix in without donning a sweater or firing up the oven, make the @tinkerlab Pumpkin Pie Playdough recipe! It smells, feels and looks divine! Thanks, Rachelle, for this recipe and the wonderful emails you send!”

And then she kindly shared photos from their creative play session. So inspiring! Take a look…

The cotton ball whipped cream is genius, don’t you think?

Make mini pumpkins with fork tines and pipe cleaners. Awww.

More Fall Activities

The Great Big Family Fall List (print this for the fridge!)

More Playdough Recipes

Rainbow Play Dough, Tinkerlab

Cloud Dough, TinkerLab

Gluten-free Cloud Dough, TinkerLab

No-cook Cinnamon Playdough, The Imagination Tree

Glowing Play Dough, TinkerLab

Masa (Corn Flour) Play Dough

Downloadable (Free) Playdough Recipe Book, Nurture Store

Candy Cane Play Dough, Artful Parent

July Art Challenge

By Rachelle 4 Comments

It’s time for the July Art Challenge! 🎨🗓Each month, we follow a set of art prompts that are open to interpretation. The goal is to build an art practice that helps us explore new ideas and experience joy through self expression. Sometimes we need a little boost to remind us to create! All ages and skill levels are welcome. Use any media: pencil, paint, photography, 💃🏽 dance…it’s up to you. Grab a sketchbook and jump in anywhere, anytime.

❤️New this month! My daughters have been involved in this challenge for years, and my eldest volunteered to create all the line art shown around the July calendar. ❤️💃🏻

If you have children in your life, these prompts are made for you. 👩‍👧Share the daily prompt with your child and see what happens! 💫For summertime trips and downtime, the challenge can be your daily creative companion, giving your family an artsy brain break.

💃🏼HOW TO PLAY >>

. Find a sketchbook or stack of paper. Beyond that, use any materials you like. Paint, pencil, collage papers, dirt. It’s up to you. You could even go paper-free and make this a photo challenge.
If you’re on Instagram, you can follow and join the challenge there, too. Tag me @tinkerlab so I can reshare your posts in my stories. Upload your photos with the hashtags #tinkerlabartchallenge and #tinkersketch > July Art Challenge on Instagram
Have Fun!
Starts July 1

Cut and Paste Prompt List for the July Art Challenge

If you’d rather cut and paste the list into a document or something else, here’s the full list for the July Art Challenge:

parallel
torn
air
crack
glitzy
vintage
equal
yummy
crush
tangle
wild
spiral
fresh
dust
dance
walk
east
dinner
wheel
lazy
diamond
fuzzy
even
zigzag
story
clock
spare
zoom
bubble
texture
orbit

FAQ

What is the TinkerSketch Art Challenge?

TinkerSketch is a daily sketchbook practice that invites you to experiment and play with ideas and materials in a low-stress, fun, and mind-stretching way.

Who is this Art Challenge for?

Anyone who wants a creative art boost. The stakes are low and it’s super easy to do, even if you have no experience or low confidence with making.

How much time will it take?

While you can spend as much time at this as you like, just set aside 5-10 minutes each day and you’re in business.

I need some tips for carving out 5-10 minutes

Carry a sketchbook in your bag and pull it out when you’re waiting in line
Designate “creative time” where you and your child draw in sketchbooks side-by-side
Wake up a little earlier than usual. You can make this more pleasant by lighting a candle, brewing tea, and sitting with your sketchbook for a few minutes before the rest of your home wakes up

What’s the goal?

Improve your drawing, painting, mark-making skills
Try and explore new ways of art-making
Land on new ideas that wouldn’t have emerged otherwise
Have fun
Model creative thinking for your child (if you’re a parent or teacher)
Celebrate the imperfection of your ideas
Think creatively

What Tools Will I Need?

A sketchbook or a ream of paper. Even post-its or old receipts will work.
Mark-making tools like pens and pencils
Paint and brush
“Attaching” materials such as glue and tape will come in handy
Collage materials such as scrap paper, newspaper, old homework, or magazines.
Anything else that strikes your fancy. We’ve used hole punchers, chalk markers, tea, and okra (they make beautiful stamps).

See our Resources Page for a full list of recommended supplies for tinkering, art journal keeping, and art making with kids.

Can I see Examples of How this Works?

To see images from TinkerSketch past, click over here or search Instagram for #tinkersketch. You’ll see so many inspiring entries.

How do I interpret the prompts?

You can interpret the daily prompts however you want. “Drips” to one person may mean flicking watercolors off a toothbrush and to another person it might mean covering a page in marker and then leaving the page outside on a drizzly morning. You can take the prompts literally or not — this is completely up to you.

The Art of Noticing – Two Projects and a Book Review

By Rachelle Leave a Comment

The Art of Noticing, hot off the press, is a creativity book that’s jam-packed with inspiring activities that help us look at the world differently, move out of our comfort zones, and get creative juices flowing. I don’t often share books here, and when I do it’s because they are GOOD! This is one of those books.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links.

In The Art of Noticing, author and educator Rob Walker shares 131 ways to spark creativity, find inspiration, and discover joy in the everyday. It’s available as a book, kindle, and audible. The girls and I bought it for Scott for father’s day and we’ve been stealing it from each other ever since. He left the room when I popped in to grab it, but it was under a watchful eye. So appropriate.

To give you a taste of what’s inside, I’ll share a couple projects that we’ve enjoyed from the book.

1. Reframe the Familiar

Walker pays homage to one of my creativity heroes, Sister Corita Kent, in this prompt, and I like this fresh twist on her viewfinder activity, borrowed from one of Walker’s student Lucy Knops.

Make a viewfinder from an old slide or simply cut a frame from heavy paper. Look for a view to frame up and then summarize what you see in one or two words. Then, move the viewfinder to frame up something else. How does the word influence what you’re looking at? For example…

This one is pretty simple and I encourage you to give it a try. The next one is more involved, but doesn’t require anything more than time.

2. Look for Ghosts and Ruins

For this act of noticing, you get to venture out into the world and hunt for visible remnants that give clues into the past. We heard about an old series of steam tunnels on the Stanford campus and decided to go in search of them.

If you want to try this, keep your eyes peeled for evidence of unused architectural features such as phone booths, sealed off underpasses, or the foundation remains of a building. What clues do they offer into their original purpose? What questions remain?

My daughter and I ventured out at night, which added to the mystery and intrigue. Many of the tunnel entrances can be found around the main quad, so we started there…

We read online that the entrances are locked (makes sense!). While we knew we couldn’t go inside, we hoped to get a glimpse into these secret spaces and dreamed up stories about them along the way. Here’s a peek at what we found…

You can see a bit of a descending ladder in this one.

It’s hard to tell from the photos, but we were able to see 15 feet underground into some of these holes, and ladders down the side were clues that these were in fact entrances!

The Art of Noticing

Back to The Art of Noticing: This book full of so many rich and novel ideas for experiencing life, and most don’t require fancy tools to pull off.

Some of the other interventions, at a glance:

Take a photo walk, with no camera
Keep a nature log
Get there the hard way
Count with the numbers you find
Detect imaginary clues
Meet a friend half way
Look like a child
Track the moon

Don’t these ideas make you want to dive in a play? At the end of the day, the activities will make your life richer and full of more possibilities than you had previously imagined.

Order a copy of The The Art of Noticing or Take a Look Inside the Book

The Artful Parent – Revised Edition

By Rachelle Leave a Comment

Holy art goodness! The Artful Parent (aff), revised edition from Roost Books just hit the shelves! I adore the original book and this new edition is simply beyond. It’s jam-packed with endless art activities for you and your young kids.

First, there are endless projects you can try with your preschooler. Second, it includes detailed chapters on things like setting up your art space, making room for action art, storing art (a big challenge for many of us!), drawing games ideas, and how to set up art playdates and parties. Jean spent hours taking new photos and updating the original, and the result is impressive.

A peek inside…

Being a new parent can be hard work and blogs, like Jean’s The Artful Parent, are a treasure trove of solid ideas that save the day. As a new mama, I hung on her words, tried her projects, started my own blog, and became an Artful Parent lifer. Over time, our friendship grew, we swapped stories, met in Nashville, and she introduced me to her editor at Roost Books (who became my book publisher), which was a huge act of generosity. Simply put, Jean is a good person and a creativity trailblazer in the world of kids art.

Let’s take a look inside the book…

Here’s my article, Playful Exploration of Art Ideas and Materials…

Instagram Giveaway

Would you like to toss your hat in the ring to win a copy of this book?! Just like @tinkerlab and @theartfulparent on Instagram and leave a comment in my Insta post with your favorite kids art project. For extra entries, tag friends in separate comments. Open to U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: Friday, June 28, 2019, 8 pm ET. Winner will be notified by direct message on 6/28 and will have 24 hours to claim their prize. Instagram does not endorse this giveaway. Good luck, friends!

Order your copy

To skip the line and get your copy now, click here to get your copy on Amazon and learn more about the book.

11 Classic Summer Camp Crafts for Kids

By Rachelle 18 Comments

Now that summer is officially underway, I’ve been getting nostalgic for classic summer camp crafts. You know, the ones that you would make every year — things to wear, hang on your wall, and gift to your parents at the end of summer.

These projects are intended to take you back to your childhood, and maybe inspire you to bring some of this time-tested goodness back into your life this summer. I know that my 4-year old will enjoy tie-dying and sand casting, so I’m adding those to my summer bucket list.

What crafts do you remember from your camp days?

Tie Dye Tutorial, Home Made Simple. You could also try this one-step tie dye kit.

Friendship Bracelets. For all the supplies you’ll need, I love this multi-pack of embroidery floss.

God’s Eye, Make and Takes. For a colorful selection of yarn, you might like this bright 8-pack of tiny, soft yarn skeins.

Paint Birdhouses. TinkerLab. Pic up inexpensive wooden birdhouses at the craft store, add acrylic paint, and you’ll have a birdhouse or bird feeder for summer. For non-toxic acrylic paint, you could try Reeves non-toxic acrylic paint set (affiliate)