Rowan and I got into clay this weekend after a trip to the children’s museum. The museum has a lovely outdoor area for playing with clay which my mess loving son gravitated to immediately. We sat for almost an hour deep in concentration, both of us on a mission to make something amazing. I made a robot, and Rowan made a cave for the robot to live in. We were both very proud of our creations. When we got home, Rowan wanted more, so we made this very easy recipe for air drying clay.

Inspired by this bead necklace post at Little Girl Designs, I got to playing around with the dough. I thought these little happy faces were cute, and a nice surprise for Rowan when he came home from school. You can convert them into pins making them a fun alternative to a gold star for good behavior.

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Clay Happy Face Pins

Brooch pins
Strong adhesive
Paint
Paintbrush
Black pen
Seal spray

Pull of small sections of the dough, and form into little pancakes the size of a nickel or quarter. Lay out the circles onto parchment paper, and let dry overnight.

When fully dry, paint colored circles and let fully dry, about an hour.

Draw a happy face, and coat with a sealer. Set out to dry.

Glue a brooch pin on the back, or they are cute keepsakes for smaller children as is.

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Air Drying Clay

2 cups baking soda
1 cup cornstarch
1.5 cups cold water

Add all of the ingredients to a pan and stir over medium heat. Mixture will be liquid, but will change consistency as you stir and it heats up. Continue stirring until dough has a dough consistency.

Remove from heat and spoon out onto a plate. Set it to cool all the way through. You can stick it in the refrigerator to speed things up.

When dough is cool lay out on a work surface that has been dusted with cornstarch. Cover hands in  cornstarch, and knead dough and it will turn into a pliable dough. Keep dusting with cornstarch to keep it from sticking.