We are all trying to find ways to entertain our families at home during our social isolation and what better way than to use items you already have on hand. Over the last week I experimented with homemade chalk using ingredients from my pantry including dyes made from fruit and vegetable scraps. 

I found simple "recipes" online using ingredients like flour, baking soda, and cornstarch. All of these were easy to follow and used small amounts of each ingredient. I was excited about this opportunity to be creative and share my success of a homemade activity. 

Spoiler alert: it all went terribly wrong. 

I had some success with my homemade dye using wilted spinach, onion skins, and over ripe berries. However, we previously dyed eggs using natural fruit and vegetable dye and this would be a better method. 

Then the disappointment came.  The first mixture of corn starch and dye resulted in an extremely dry chalk that could not be touched or picked up without falling apart. The second mixture of flour, crushed egg shell and dye did not dry even when left of my counter for 5 days. The third attempt was to freeze a mixture of flour, baking soda and dye but this only resulted in a melted mess as soon as the "chalk" was removed from the mold. 

 While I wish I could share with you an exciting way to keep your kids entertained and creative, I can only share my quarantine failure. I would love to hear your stories of failed creative attempts as well as the things that have worked well for you! Head over to our Instagram account @zesttorganics to share your stories!