Homemade Play Doh!

In an effort to keep us busy the past week, I've been scouring the internet for ideas to keep Zach learning.  The amount of knowledge that a toddler can pick up in one day is incredible and I don't want one moment of that to slip from our fingers.  About 80% of my days are spent feeding Eli (yes, he eats that much!) so having a moment to get things together for Zach is not easy.  Luckily, Eli napped for a full hour and a half today, which gave me just enough time to get an activity together.

I've seen quite a few recipes for homemade play doh these days but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Zach yet.  Luckily, most of the recipes were things that weren't going to kill him if he ate it, so I decided it was time for him to try playing with play doh.  I did a quick search for a simple recipe (you wouldn't believe how many really unique ones there are out there- gingerbread, glitter, slime green, rainbow, even chocolate!).  I settled upon a simple one with three ingredients I had in the pantry- flour, water, and salt!  

Homemade play doh (warning- this recipe dries out fairly quickly)

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1/2 cup water dyed color of choice

Have your child mix the salt and flour

Slowly add water until the desired consistency is achieved!

*This teaches cause and effect.  Child will learn that when you add liquids to the dry mixture you will get a new texture!*

Ready to help make play doh!

Right after stirring

And then came time to play!  Zach was very confused at first, and of course put it right into his mouth right away.  He quickly learned that it was very salty and didn't try to eat it again.  The dog on the other hand ate a small ball!  He wasn't sure what to do with it, so I showed him how he can mold it in his hands.  I made a snowman, a heart, and a Z.  He had fun watching me, but still wasn't to crazy into it.  Finally I began breaking pieces apart and counting them.  He's really fascinated in counting lately so he had fun pretending to count the balls that Mommy laid out in front of him.  I'd like to think that he was learning some fractions as I distributed smaller pieces from the big ball.  I also showed him how I could take 2 balls away from the 5 that he had so that there were only three left now.  He seemed really interested in this activity!  Eventually he got bored and play time was over.  I will do this activity again, when he's a bit older and can actually mold and play with the play doh!  

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Play time!

Love that face!

I was begging him "not" to smile!

One happy toddler!

Until next time- happy learning!