What You Need:
- cupcake tin
- plastic pitcher
- food coloring
- white paper towels
- newspaper
- clear contact paper
- pinking shears (optional)
What You Do Together:
- Ask your child to spread newspaper on the floor. Help her use a small pitcher to fill six sections of a cupcake tin with water. Add a few drops of a different food coloring to each section.
- Next, help your child fold a white paper towel into small squares or triangles at least four times. Then ask her to dip the corners of the towel into different colors. When all the corners have been dipped, help her carefully unfold the towel and lay it on the newspaper to dry. Now it's time to make another one! (Encourage your child to experiment with different folding techniques and to observe and describe the different results she achieves.) Make as many dip-dye place mats as you need.
- After the dip-dyed towels have thoroughly dried, cut a piece of clear contact paper slightly larger than the paper towels and peel off the backing. Help your child carefully lay one of the towels on the contact paper and smooth it down. Then cut a second piece and place it on top of the towel. If a pinking shears is available or you have a child-sized zigzag scissors, invite your child to cut a decorative border around the edges.
- Set the table! Encourage your child to suggest additional ways to make the meal festive!
More Ways to Learn
Make place cards. Together, come up with a list of everyone who will be at the table. Encourage your child to help with the writing or spelling of the names. Depending on your child's age, you can either write the names on the cards yourself and let her decorate them or help her copy names from the list onto each card. Together, you can even write a personal message inside each one.
Make colorful napkin rings from cardboard tubes. Cut tubes to 2" widths, and invite your child to decorate them by gluing colorful paper scraps, foil, ribbon, and yarn pieces onto them. When the glue has dried, roll up paper napkins to slip inside. Let your child set a napkin ring at each table place at dinnertime.
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