Papier-Mache Bowl

When I was a kid, I did papier-mache projects using newspaper with a flour and water mixture. But I found a simple (and much prettier) version in FamilyFun magazine's June/July 2010 issue that I thought Ava would enjoy trying. Tim actually joined in and made his own, too. I loved the way they turned out. We use Ava's bowl to hold our mini dry-erase markers. Here are the instructions...

Supplies

• Tissue paper - torn into small pieces appx 2"x2" (we used blue and white, because that's what we had, but can use all one color or several colors.
• Small bowl (we used one of Ava's toy kitchen bowls, because it was small and more manageable for a two-year old to work on and complete)
• Paintbrush
• Plastic wrap
• Cooking spray/oil
• 1/4 cup all-purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Water

Instructions

1. Prep: Rub the cooking oil/spray onto the outside of the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Mix the flour and water in another bowl/container until smooth.
2. Create: Brush large area of the bowl with the flour and water mixture and then cover it with tissue paper pieces. Then continue the process until entire bowl is covered with tissue paper. Continue this layering process of the entire bowl at least four times. (We did the first layers with white to create a white inside for our bowl, and then we did the last layer or two with the blue.)
3. Finish: Allow to dry for at least 12 hours before removing the plastic wrap and bowl from the new papier-mache bowl. Enjoy!