Stale bread, yellow food coloring and Elmer's Glue™ are the basic ingredients for making homemade fake bananas. Making glue bread dough is a good project for rainy or snowy days when you and your children are at your wit's end. Kids love handling sticky substances, and moms can corral potential messes by using a washable bowl and a floured work surface. Elmer's Glue™ is water-soluble and won't harm your children's skin.
Things You'll Need:
- Small Quantity Of Flour
- 8 Slices Slightly Stale White Bread
- Bowl
- Table, Cutting Board Or Counter Top
- 1/2 Cup Elmer'S School Glue™
- Yellow Food Coloring
Sprinkle the table, cutting board or counter with the flour. It's easier to have your work surface prepared before your hands are sticky.
Remove the crust from the slices of bread. Tear the bread into tiny pieces, the smaller the better. Put the bread pieces into a bowl.
Pour the glue over the bread pieces. Mix them together with your hands until the mixture makes a sticky white dough.
Shape the dough into a ball and take it out of the bowl. Pat the ball with your hands until it's smoother in shape.
Place the dough ball on the floured work surface and start kneading it gently at first. Knead it with more gusto when the dough starts sticking together and becoming more pliant. Keep kneading it for another five minutes until the dough becomes shiny and smooth.
Sprinkle a few drops of the yellow food coloring on the dough. Work the coloring into the dough, adding a few more drops until you achieve the shade you want throughout the dough.
Pinch off small pieces of the dough and form it into banana shapes. Place the dough bananas on a floured surface to dry until they lose their stickiness. They will dry faster on a day with lower humidity.
Tip
Mix a few drops of red and green food coloring to make brown. Dip a toothpick in the brown coloring and make small dots on your bananas to make them look ripe.
If your kids are tired of making bananas, tint the remaining dough with a few drops of red food coloring to create orange dough. Your kids can shape oranges while they're learning about mixing colors.
Wash the mixing bowl, the work surface and children's hands when the banana-making is done. Dried glue is fun to pick off their fingers. On the other hand, tracking down and cleaning up flakes of dried glue is not.
Warnings:
- This dough should not be eaten. It's nontoxic, but you don't want your children getting into the habit of eating play doughs.
References
Tips
- Mix a few drops of red and green food coloring to make brown. Dip a toothpick in the brown coloring and make small dots on your bananas to make them look ripe.
- If your kids are tired of making bananas, tint the remaining dough with a few drops of red food coloring to create orange dough. Your kids can shape oranges while they're learning about mixing colors.
- Wash the mixing bowl, the work surface and children's hands when the banana-making is done. Dried glue is fun to pick off their fingers. On the other hand, tracking down and cleaning up flakes of dried glue is not.
Warnings
- This dough should not be eaten. It's nontoxic, but you don't want your children getting into the habit of eating play doughs.
Writer Bio
Susan Kerr began her writing career as a food columnist in 1987 before moving to business journalism as a reporter and managing editor in the Penn State area. Since then, Kerr has contributed content to military-related magazines, not-for-profit websites and other online media. In addition, she writes a weekly column for her hometown newspaper
Related Articles
