Come play in my world for awhile!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

P.O.P

What do my wondering eyes see?
Something that's cheap, it's almost free!
It's the perfect thing for a yucky day.
Kids will be content for hours to play.
What is this magic? What could it be?
I'll tell you now...

It's P.O.P!
(plaster of paris)

(Yes, the snow is still lingering in the background)

I kid you not... this stuff is brilliant! All you need is:

  • Plaster (you can purchase a giant tub of it from Home Depot for $5.00. It's enough plaster to make 20-30 molds depending on size)
  • Water to mix it with (2 parts plaster to one part water)
  • A plastic mold to put it into (you can buy them online for $2.00 or less) wait 30 minutes to pop the semi-dry plaster out of the mold and 24 hours for optimal dryness.
  • Acrylic paints and paint brushes.

My sister brought this mold when she came to visit at Christmas and got us started. We even put the kids' hand print on the back of the snowman before the plaster was set.

Recently one of my daughters had a birthday party and sleepover at the house. Rather than going to one of those Paint-a-Pot places (you know, where you paint your own ceramic stuff?) and paying $10-15 per kid I made these plaster pieces at home for the kids to paint:


This one is incomplete, but you get the idea...

One word of caution: Watch out for the acrylic paint. If a person were to, say, allow that paint to dry on the kitchen table it would be permanent.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the head's up by experience or fear? Do you know have a fun orange color on your family dining room table perhaps? :)Awesome idea!

Kathy B! said...

Experience! And it's a light purple smudge on the edge of the plexi-glass top that that protects the actual table underneath.

Plexi-glass is a good thing!!

Minxy Mimi said...

Thatt is a great idea. I am going to try it! YAY and thanks!

Anonymous said...

Remember those beer commercials with the guys that would say "brilliant" with an english accent. Ok.
Brilliant!
I was actually thinking of getting some P.O.P. to make dinosaur fossils

Kathy B! said...

Oh! Dino fossils sound FUN! Then take them out and bury them in your sand box... that was one of my summer faves... but I don't think I'm going to get too many takers this summer. My babies are too old. sniff, sniff, small tear.

Seeker said...

great idea..would keep kids happy and busy for hours.

and thanks for the great tip about stuffing my mouth with chocolate....will give it a try and keep self quiet that way....LOL

Lana@The Kids Did WHAT?! said...

What an awesome idea for a b-day party craft!!

King J's Queen said...

I just love plaster of paris! We've made a good number of projects with it, including the little Christmas tree magnet on my post. We have both girls handprints, too, at different ages.

Ryan Ashley Scott said...

I remember doing POP when I was a kid - it was one of my favorite things to do. I had totally forgotten about that...

Helene said...

Oh man, I've been taking my kids to the local pottery place to do things like this and it does add up quickly! I'll have to check out this plaster stuff at Michael's next time I'm there!

Hajar Zamzam Ismail said...

Wow! that actually looks store-bought!