How to Make a Pinata

Samuel's friend Sophia has been begging me to make pinatas at our house. When Christina e-mailed the POH authors and said that one of our topics would be Fun Playdate Ideas, I thought I'd bite the bullet and make the pinatas. As you'll notice, this week's topic is not Fun Playdate Ideas. Because, well, this didn't turn out to be a fun playdate idea! But it is an excellent craft! The reason the playdate was a flop is because Samuel HATES to get messy. I should have factored this in. I don't know what I was thinking! He dipped one strip in the goo and he was done! So Sophia, Sophia's mom and I finished the pinatas. But everyone did get in on the decorating part. Sophia (who's 4.5) loved every step of this project. Just be warned that this may not be the project for you if you have a little one who doesn't like to get messy.

Supplies:
Balloon
Newspaper (torn into strips ~2"x4")
Flour
Paint
Duct Tape
String

Step 1:
Blow up your balloon. Mix 1 part flour to 2 parts water. For example, I mixed 1 cup of flour into 2 cups of water. Dip your newspaper strip into the goo, smooth off the extra goo by running the strip between your index and middle finger, and then apply to the balloon. Continue until your whole balloon is covered (except for a 2" hole where the balloon is tied. Let this dry for at least 1 day. (Now, I will say here that the instructions I was following said to repeat this step 2 or 3 more times. We didn't. I figured I had 2 2yos and 2 4yos who were going to be breaking these things and they didn't need to be that strong. 1 layer was just fine for us).

Step 2:
Decorate. I just poured a bunch of paints on plates and let the kids go. Some people glue crepe paper to the outside. It's up to you. Let this dry - ours took about 2 hours.

Step 3:
Stuff. First you have to pop your balloon and pull it out. Then crumple up some newspaper and stuff it in. Then some candy. Alternate between newspaper and candy. Or, if you have crepe paper, you could use that instead. This will help prevent all the candy from sinking to the bottom.

Step 4:
Hang. Since the pinata was only one layer thick, I decided to reinforce the top with a layer of duct tape. Then I poked a hole in each side and strung some yarn through. I didn't want the yarn to rip out when they were hitting the pinata. The duct tape did the trick.

Step 5:
Swing away! Each of the kids took turns whacking the pinata with a wooden sword. The pinata was strong enough that each of them got quite a few hits in before it finally broke open. I was glad I didn't do more layers because they have such short attention spans. They thought it was a lot of fun!