by Lisa Piper

Created on: May 30, 2010

The crowd packs into the stadium as the smell of hot dogs and popcorn wafts through the air. They are about to enjoy America’s favorite pastime, baseball. There are many ways to have fun with the season and spend quality time with your kids. One of which is to make some of these baseball inspired crafts.

Salt Dough Baseball Magnets

Materials:

¼ Cup Salt

½ Cup Flour

¼ Cup Water

Circle Shaped Cookie Cutter

Cookie Sheet

White and Red Acrylic Paint

Paintbrush

Acrylic Sealer Spray

Round Magnets

Instructions:

Mix the flour, salt, and water together in a bowl. This will form the dough. If the dough is still sticky, add more flour a bit at a time until it’s smooth. Press the dough out onto a tabletop until it is about ½” thick. Use the cookie cutters to cut circles from the dough. Place the circles onto a cookie sheet. Bake the circles at 250 degrees for 2 ½ hours. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. Once they have cooled, completely cover the circles with the acrylic white paint.  Then, use the red acrylic paint to add the stitching onto your baseballs. Allow the paint to dry. Once it dries, spray the baseballs with acrylic sealer spray, and let them dry once again. Attach the magnets to the back of the baseballs and they are ready to be hung up.

Paper Mache Baseball

Materials:

Strips of Newspaper (about 1” x 6”)

Round Balloon

Red and White Acrylic Paint

Flour

Paintbrush

Water

Instructions:

To make the paper mache paste, mix together 2 parts water to 1 part flour in a bowl. Add more flour or water a bit at a time until the paste is the consistency of thick glue. Blow up the balloon and tie it closed. Take a strip of newspaper and dip it into the paste. Pull the strip between your fingers to remove any excess paste. Place the strip on the balloon and smooth it down. Cover the entire outside of the balloon with strips of newspaper leaving a small hole in the bottom where the balloon is tied. Allow this layer to dry. Once it is completely dry add a second layer of paper mache. After the second layer is dry, add a third layer. Once this layer is completely dry, pop the balloon and pull it out from the small opening you left in the bottom. Paint the entire baseball white and use the red paint to add stitching. Your paper mache baseball is now complete.

These crafts are sure to get your little one into the baseball spirit. There is no limit to how many crafts that you can make with a little more creativity. Use the craft ideas above and see how many baseball themed ideas you can come up with.

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