Playdoh For A Rainy Day

My daughter was bugging me to make her some playdoh. So happened it was raining that day and I thought "okay, why not". I ended up making 4 "balls" of playdoh. I couldn't make a lot of colors because I threw out most of my food coloring since they were expired. So I made green, pink, red and white. If you need the recipe and directions on how to make them, you can get it here from my previous post: PLAYDOH RECIPE

This is the first time babyK has seen playdoh. She was scared to touch it at first. D1 doesn't like the smell of it, so he chose to play with plasticine instead. I know there's a recipe that uses KoolAid. I'm sure that smells better but unfortunately, we don't have KoolAid here.

Here are some of the playdoh creations done by my older girl. 

Mamas Parenting Tip

• If you need an activity for a rainy day, make some playdoh. 
• Store up cookie cutters of a variety of shapes. It'll provide loads of fun when playing playdoh.

Time for Playdoh

Almost forgot about this wonderful stuff called playdoh. Made some 2 days ago and the kids are still playing with it. Used to buy the stuff but now I just make my own. Saves me the heartache of seeing my money get thrown in the dustbin because you know how kids are... they don't keep in properly and it hardens up, little bits and pieces that need to be swept up which eventually diminishes the quantity of the playdoh, getting all the colors mixed up in one colorful ball etc.... Basically seeing your playdoh obey the law of disintegration. Make your own and you don't have to worry about their handling and abuse.
They are several recipes out there on homemade playdoh. This time round I tried this one:

1 cup cold water
1 cup salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 cups flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
food coloring

This is a non-cook playdoh recipe. I've never tried the ones that need cooking but I read that it's suppose to last longer and probably better texture. Anyway, my kids are not complaining. As long as they have something to squeeze, pinch, roll, cut, and mold, they are happy.

Did you know that playdoh helps your children have better handwriting? Yes, it builds the hand muscles and it is used in occupational therapies and special education programs. Also develops fine motor skills that help children with buttons and zippers.

I have a teacher friend who is currently teaching a boy with a learning disability. Part of his therapy is to squeeze a "stress ball". Its like a balloon filled with flour and you can make that yourself too. The point was to build up the strength in his hands. I thought it was funny that the parents were spending all this money to help their child and the remedy was to PLAY more. Maybe all this could have been avoided in the first place if he had been encouraged to play more and study less. So I guess this is further evidence that play has it's benefits. It's like little lion cubs rough tumbling with each other. Looks like fun but that is how they learn to hunt and pounce on their prey in the future. So it is with our children, playing with stuff like playdoh helps develop certain skills.
So don't you think it's an interesting concept? Children have to learn to play so they can play to learn !!!