Mother’s Children: Make Bread Dough Jewelry and a Helicopter Toy

By Christy Osborne
Published on November 1, 1983
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MOTHER EARTH NEWS feels strongly that youths can be creative
MOTHER EARTH NEWS feels strongly that youths can be creative "doers", working toward more ecological and self-reliant lifestyles.
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A steady hand and eye for detail are necessary to make this business a success.
A steady hand and eye for detail are necessary to make this business a success.
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The results are colorful bits of fun that look good enough to eat!
The results are colorful bits of fun that look good enough to eat!
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Once your jewelry is done, enjoy it with your friends and family.
Once your jewelry is done, enjoy it with your friends and family.
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This diagram gives brief instructions for making a successful helicopter toy.
This diagram gives brief instructions for making a successful helicopter toy.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS feels strongly that youths can be creative “doers”, working toward more ecological and self-reliant lifestyles . . . whether their tasks be raising chickens on a farm or maintaining rooftop container gardens in the city. To support the endeavors of our often overlooked “underage” citizens, we’re glad to publish well written articles from younger children and teenagers concerning projects they’ve undertaken.

Hi. My name is Christy, and I’m ten years old. My family lives way up in the hills of Washington State, and I get to see other kids at school every day, but there aren’t that many around to play with when I get home. My folks said I had to learn to entertain myself, so sometimes I helped them out with their home business projects (Mom makes porcelain dolls, and Dad makes bread dough Gnome Homes). Still, I was mostly bored.

Then one day when I was watching Dad work on some of his little houses, I got the idea of making food jewelry out of bread dough. I tried it, and the pieces looked great! Dad liked them so much that he said I should try selling some at school. I didn’t want to, but when I wore a “corn” necklace to class and my friends saw it, they wanted some of their own. So that’s how I got started selling my crafts at school. Now, I make hot dogs, hamburgers, grapes, strawberries, bananas, pears, pods with peas in them, and apples . . . with worms in them! (I even tried making a tiny pizza once, but it looked kind of gross.)

Here’s how you make bread dough jewelry:

Take 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of warm water, and 1 cup of salt., and mix them together. Knead the stuff well, and once that’s done (your hands will be all gooey), you’re ready to shape and color your favorite foods.

With most fruits or vegetables, it’s easiest to color the dough before you start shaping it. For strawberries, for instance, you can stretch out a hunk of dough and put red stripes all over it with a broad-tipped felt pen. Then knead away until the whole lump turns pink. Add more red if you need it, make strawberries the size you want, and use a fine felt pen to put dark spots on them afterward. Next, paint three green leaves on their tops.

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