Mumsnet users share with Frankie & Benny’s the craft activities or kids experiments that have gone wrong

[EllieMumsnet]

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Arts & crafts, cool science experiments, baking...they all sound such fun and great ways to spend an afternoon with your child/children and 99% of the time they are. Sometimes though, something might go a little left; maybe it wasn’t really the kind of trajectory you had in mind for that rocket or perhaps you put a bit too much bicarbonate soda in that science experiment and ended up giving a lesson on explosives instead. With that in mind Frankie & Benny’s would love to know all the craft activities and kids experiments that you’ve tried to do and have gone wrong.

Here’s what Frankie & Benny’s have to say: “We know Easter holidays are a key time for any family to spend time and do activities together. Whether it’s going out to share a meal, going to see a movie or entertaining the kids with home experiments, we all love to try new things. This half term, Frankie & Benny’s is giving away free slime with every kids’ meal and we want parents to share with us their home experiments disaster stories, including those who’ve tried to make their very own slime!”

Perhaps you too have tried to make slime and you’re still finding it in different places all over the house? Or maybe you tried to help your child with their homework, mistook superglue for PVA glue and are still trying to pick bits of your hands? Or maybe you tried a famous sweet and fizzy drink experiment and immediately regretted it?

Whatever craft activities or kids experiments you’ve done that have gone wrong share them on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

We were making slime, and I asked my then 10 year old daughter to watch her 5 year old brother for a second. They were laughing so much when i got back, they had decided to make themselves slime monsters and were both covered head to toe in slime!!

We made some clay models, one which was supposed to be a giraffe looked like something else. Mine which was a bunny was th most horrifying thing to look at.

play doh - I don't know how we got it so wrong. My son ended up with blue hands and the kitchen floor ended up with a strange brown mark! We also somehow messed up paper mache, where you put it over the balloon and then pop the balloon. Ours collapsed so we reckon it wasn't set enough. I never was good at crafty things

Our home-made volcano which erupted so much it went all over the table, floor and us! My children thought it was brilliant though.

Painting pictures. Tried to be careful and put down lots of newspaper on the carpet to avoid spillages but the little one flicked paint several times resulting with it landing on walls, blinds, on the sofa and on clothes. A terrible mess

i hhd to great idea of making a volcano and adding glitter, never never ever again!!

We bought a plaster of paris kit to make the baby handprints..but we left it too long and it went solid!

trying to make a ginger bread man and put the wrong ingredients in turned out dry.

We had a perfume making kit from a birthday party one year, the doorbell rang so I went to answer it quickly, gone less than a minute and when I got back my DD had managed to drink the perfume!

My daughter had some white tack and she wanted to make it into slime. So she kept putting soap and water on it to make it stretchy and slimy. Because it was getting so sticky she put it under the tap several times. I found the end result on my table. A pile of liquid mush

DS is quite sensible with crafts at home and we've had no disasters yet... I dread Wednesdays sending him to school though as they hand out whiteboard and his clean red jumper always comes back ruined with black marks all over . It doesn't wash out! I'm forever having to buy new jumpers.

Don’t ever try Papier mache! We got into such a terrible sticky mess...the wallpaper paste had great lumps in it and the model was sooo wet it took weeks to dry out properly!

Glitter! Arghhhh! It was all over the house after a party and just wouldn't clean up! It is permanently stuck into the varnish on some floorboards in the kitchen!

Making slime without borax, apparently you dont need contact solution said you tube. Well that was total rubbish, it was a disaster. Let me tell you, you do need it!

Do not play cowboys and Indians with the arrows with rubber suckers on the end. I stuck one on my forehead(stop laughing) and had what looked like a lovebite for nearly a week.

I've got some great craft ideas for the easter holidays from this thread.

I've learned the hard way about food colouring too. Who knew it was so strong? When doing a 'science' experiment with milk and food colouring, DCs faces were stained for days, and their poo was interesting...

Kitchen diner has been slowly but surely devalued by playdough ground into a rug; blue paint on the dining chair cushions; scissor scratches on the engineered oak floor and felt tip pen scribbles on the inside (thankfully) doors of an expensive cabinet. FML. No craft stuff on walls yet, surprisingly - just food stains from the weaning days that will need painting over once DD2 has contributed her own efforts.

feet painting, rather than hand painting, but hadnt got socks off yet, nor reverse of wallpaper out yet, before 2 year old decided she was ready to start

I've found that the craft kits you can buy are just too fiddly/difficult for kids to do and they end up getting cross and frustrated - particularly ones that involve sewing! They also don't last very long. Much better off with tubs of paint and lots of paper :)

My son cut the tassles of the sofa when he was little as he wanted to add them to a painting of cat he had made for whiskers :-o

Our dining room table now has variously coloured doodles over. Note to self - buy them washable felt tip pens.

making slime and getting it on the carpet

Everything with glitter has been a disaster in our house. We made a paper mache character once that looked like he had been on a severe diet.

Slime was one of them! it was in one of the very good branded " Poopsie" packages too! it just didn't set and was very watery! luckily we had lots more to make!

We recently crafted some eggs for easter. Glitter ended up everywhere and glue in everyone's hair! It wasn't a pretty sight :)