Sponge Heart Cakes Process Art Activity - Red Ted Art

Ah another wonderful Preschooler Activity for Valentine’s Day – fun with process art Heart Spong Cakes. Oh my.. I can see even my NON preschool kids LOVING creating with this wonderful Sensory Play activity. Create a Sponge Heart Cakes art station and see what the kids come up with. Love all the different elements to squish, and squeeze. Poke and stick and assemble. SO MUCH FUN!

Hey! I’m Aasta and I run Mini Makers Studio an art play space where children can explore art through process experiences.

So what is process art?

Well process art focuses on the experiences children have whilst creating. The end product isn’t the focus. The idea is that there is no right or wrong way to explore and create.

My kid’s just love making a mess and not a session goes by where we don’t get creatively messy. So without further ado here is a simple activity that you can set up at home with some baking and cleaning tools and materials.

To Make your Sponge Heart Cakes you will need these Materials:

Corn flour (corn starch)
Water
Food Dye
Dish washing sponges cut into a heart shape
Piping bag and nozzle or sturdy plastic bag and nozzle
Loose parts such as candle, sequin, button, pegs etc
Any kitchen cooking utensils such as spatulas or any that your kids love to bake with

How to make Sensory Play Sponge Heart Cakes

Firstly we are going to make a simple edible paint from the cornflour (corn starch), water and dye. Begin by boiling a full kettle of water. While you wait for it to boil, measure out a cup of cornflour (corn starch) into a large bowl. Stir in just enough cold water to make the cornflour (corn starch) into a flowing liquid. Now using a whisk to continuously stir pour in boiling water until the liquid begins to solidify. Remember to continuously stir otherwise your paint will end up lumpy. Your mixture should be white and smooth.

At this point you can now create some red paint by scooping some mixture into a bowl and stirring in some red food dye. Congratulations you have made the paint!

The children can use the paint in a variety of ways, for this activity I would add some to a piping bag and some to a container. Then set up a play space with heart sponges, some kitchen cooking utensils and looseparts such as candles, sequin or any other decorations.

When the fun has ended simply wash all the parts and return them to the looseparts play box for further exploration. If you have any paint left over this can be used outdoors on the pavement or even on paper for little hands to explore and learn. Have fun and get messy!

More process art activities by Mini Maker Studio: