Sunshine Clay

This is called "sunshine clay" because you can literally bake it in the sunshine.

So, get ready for a super easy, super cheap craft that your kids will LOVE doing with you! You'll need 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt & 1/2 cup of water. I doubled my recipe since I wanted to make lots of fun stuff.

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl.
When the dough starts sticking all together, you can take it out...

...& start kneading it.

My dough was a little too sticky. I'm not sure why. Maybe the humidity that day? I added more flour.

In the end you should get a nice smooth ball of dough like this.

Now gather up some cookie cutters & other play-dough sculpting toys & get creative!

I made this little blueberry tart.

To make the tart, you'll need to form some dough into a ball & then squish it into a nice round thick pancake shape. Form another piece of dough, long enough to go around the pancake, into a snake shape. Connect the two until they form a "bowl" shape.

With your thumb & forefinger on one hand & your forefinger on the other hand, pinch the dough so it forms these scalloped shapes all around the edge.

Now roll small "blueberries" & toss them into the tart.


After all our creations were formed I had a small ball of dough leftover. I pressed a leaf into it to make this little nature biscuit.

Now, set your pieces outside to sunbathe. Or, if you're like me, you can pop them in the oven for 2 hours at 200 degrees. I set my pieces on parchment paper. Now, I will admit that after 2 hours my pieces weren't hard & solid all the way through so I let them air dry for a long while. That didn't seem to change them. I painted 'em anyway & they seem just fine. I'm just letting you know this in case you have the same problem.

Gather some paintbrushes & acrylic paint. I used wax paper to protect the table & my trusty foil for a paint palette. If you need to smooth down any rough eges, sandpaper works great.


The girls loved how the faux foodies turned out. I think I may let them have these treats to play with in their wee play kitchen center.

When the paint is dry, coat them with Mod Podge or some other clear sealer.

Do you like my blueberry tart paper weight?

My little dog lover helped me make this pooch & a giant dog bone.

A pencil holder was crafted for my soon-to-be Kindergartner. To make it, just form some dough into a ball. Then, stick pencils into the dough & bake. (Take the pencils out before baking!) Take the pencil holder out a little past half way through the baking process & re-poke the holes with the pencils--the holes start to close a bit while in the hot oven.

I made a little disc of clay, painted a cupcake on it & glued a magnet to the back.

The cool thing about this project is that the possibilities are endless!! You can make ornaments, jewelry, small trinket boxes, initials, ANYTHING! Enjoy this Summer Fun Idea!!!