The gel boards makes for a fun tactile writing or drawing surface. A stylus or other writing instrument is not necessary to write on the gel board, just using your finger works best. It provides a fun, squishy surface to write letters, numbers or even smiley faces and hand prints.
1) To get started, gather the supplies you’ll need: about a cup of hair gel, food coloring, cardboard, white construction paper, gallon size plastic baggie, clear packing tape, and duct tape.
2) Squeeze the hair gel into the baggie and add about 10 drops of food coloring. (You don’t want to overfill the bag as too much gel would make writing difficult.) Seal the baggie well and mix the food coloring into the gel by kneeding the bag. (Your kids can help with this part!) Also trying to get as much of the air bubbles out as possible.
3) Once you have the color mixed, seal the opening with clear tape to ensure it doesn’t leak.
4) Then cut the cardboard and white construction paper to the size of the baggie. (I actually had to use a 12″x12″ sheet of scrapbooking paper to make it fit the size of the baggie I used and only cut off about an inch.)
5) Tape the white paper, then the baggie onto the cardboard to ensure it doesn’t move.
6) Next, go around all the sides with duct tape to create a border and firmly secure it on all sides.
And there you have it, one gel board for hours of fun play time. You can also add other “ingredients” to the inside of the baggie, such as glitter, foam shapes, etc. Make it your own!
That’s really neat, sis! I’ll have to try that.
I’ve looked at a number of websites with instructions to similar gel boards and I like yours the best. Thanks!