We live in Connecticut, so our town has been out of power due to Hurricane Sandy. Rowan and I have been spending more time than usual inside since a lot of our regular haunts are out of commission.
During the storm, I found that Rowan loved playing with dried beans that I had in the cupboard. He sat pouring the beans in and out of bowls for literally hours. It was a great toddler time suck! So, when I saw the big bag of corn kernels and leftover food coloring sitting in my pantry, I went to work. Rowan is loving his muli-colored corn! He played with this all morning.
This is a great indoor toddler activity, and so easy and fun to make. Rowan helped with coloring the kernels too. He had fun squishing them around and shaking them in the bags.
Multi-Colored Popcorn Kernels
What you need:
Popcorn kernels or any dried beans that are a lighter color
Food coloring
Zip lock bags
Divide up the kernels in zip lock bags. Add food coloring directly into each bag. Give the bags to your kids to squish and shake! Massage kernels until food coloring covers them evenly. You may want to add more food coloring to get the desired coloring.
Lay out the kernels on a cookie sheet and let dry for 24 hours before handling.
you are so creative! everything you post i want to try! i completely believe we (as parents? as a society?) think our kids need all this fancy stuff but in the end it's the small things that keep them content for the longest times. rowan just melts my heart by the way! he is so adorable and always looks like he is taking such careful interest in everything. so sweet!
what if we pop this corn? the pop corn will be colored??
Hmmm. I am not sure, but don't think so. I think the outer skin of the corn pops off?
Oh my; what a wonderful idea. This is so fun! My daughter is six and I bet even she would love this. Thanks for sharing!
Rowan is still playing with them today! thanks for stopping by!
HA! That's cute! and I love those little jars!
thanks!
stunning! I love this idea for decorating too!
thanks! yeah they came out really pretty. i could see them in some sort of decor.
Love the little jars you put them in and cute pics!!
thanks!
I absolutely love this! So genius! Even I want to play with the colorful corn kernels!
how cool! i had no idea you could dy pop corn kernels, definitely makes for very colorful art!
are they poppable?
They should be, I just don't think they will pop with the colors.
They will pop white with specks of colors
We've done this with pasta before. I bought several different kinds/shapes of pasta and then dyed them (though it works best with pasta if you add a bit of rubbing alcohol). My boys love it! Thanks for this idea to add to our list 🙂
hmmmm
How creative and colorful idea! I can imagine how beautiful these multicolored popcorn kernels can be used as displays in my room beside my lampshade.