End of Summer Activity: Hammering Cotton Balls

What child doesn’t enjoy the act of smashing and breaking? Try this easy activity with your child and enjoy the hammering together and develop gross motor skills in the process.

Hammer Away: Master hammering skills with a toy hammer to smash water beads, hammer golf tees into the bottom of an egg carton, mounds of clay, foam trays, or into the ground. Place flowers (wild flowers, dandelion weeds, etc…) between a folded piece of paper to hammer into flower prints. Try the recipe for making baked cotton balls and have fun crushing them into pieces. (Science)

Materials

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• Food coloring
• Cotton balls
• Medium bowl
• Small containers
• Spoons
• Aluminum foil lined baking sheet or pan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix together the 1 cup of water and the 1 cup of flour in the large bowl.
3. Spoon the mixture into the smaller containers.
4. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir and mix well.
5. Place a cotton ball into each container.
6. Coat the cotton ball completely in the mixture.
7. Scoop the cotton ball onto the baking sheet.
8. Repeat to make to several cotton balls.
9. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.
10. The cotton balls will have a hard coating on the outside when ready.
11. Allow the cotton balls to cool thoroughly.
12. Let the smashing begin!

Note: If the outer coating is too hard or thick the smashing may require a real hammer. This can be done as a demonstration by an adult or with a small hammer that the child can manage easily at the parent’s discretion.