Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
A few months ago I spotted a set of Melissa & Doug alphabet stampers on another blog and fell in love with them. The only problem is that I can't stand stampers with ink as they just end up getting mucky, stained and the ink goes everywhere! I decided to make some scented playdough for The Boy instead to stamp onto.
I know it's the tail end of Autumn and we're about to embrace Christmas (and with it Winter), but there are still plenty of natural play resources falling from the trees to enjoy this type of activity for a few weeks yet. [Read more…]
167. Drip! (We spent the day at Legoland Windsor as guests of the MAD Blog Awards for their family fun day. Late on the Saturday night, reviewing the purchases and outgoings over the previous week, we had actually realised that we weren't able to pay for the petrol to get there! Luckily a sponsored post opportunity came in on the Sunday morning and we were able to peg it up to Windsor before you could shout, 'I'm a MAD blogger!' I'm so pleased we did, because we had a brilliant time, and The Boy thoroughly enjoyed the Duplo Valley waterpark.)
168. Horsey, horsey (We spent a very quiet day playing in the house and garden to recover from the weekend's events. The Boy adores his new hobby horse we're reviewing from Great Little Trading Co.)
169. Squidge! (The one thing that The Boy asked for on his birthday list was the PlayDoh bakery playset which he'd seen in countless shops and on television. Mum bought it for him and he was over the moon, and spent most of the morning making cakes and icing them.)
170. Joy! (This is my favourite photo of the week, and possibly of this year's project. On Wednesday we took The Boy to his new school for an induction session. He adored the facilities and wanted to get stuck in to everything. Afterwards, the three of us walked home hand-in-hand and decided to go to Barry Island. It was a glorious afternoon with temperatures at 27°C at 4pm! We anchored the kite to the parasol, played frisbee, football, built sandcastles and ate chips on the sand. It felt slightly bittersweet to go from the introduction to the school – which will put a stop to these spontaneous afternoons – to being so carefree, but the sunshine soon wiped that feeling away.)
171. I will fit! (Packing for Britmums Live! and The Boy was trying to squash the important things into his rucksack, like him!)
172. Contortionist (Today was the first day of the Britmums Live! blogging conference. I took a lot of photos of yummy food and various bit and pieces, but thats not what my 365 is about. Instead I've chosen a photo of my shattered boy who went to the Maritime Museum with daddy and spent a restless night in his Premier Inn bed.)
173. Famous? (Another full on day of blogging advice in excellent sessions, and also brand schmoozing in The Hub. Coca-Cola have a stand here offering personalised labels; this makes me chuckle!)
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Play dough is a basic toy and craft item for all pre-schoolers. How many of us spend hard-earned pounds buying the badly spelt version in cute little plastic tubs? You know the bright yellow tubs with an impossible lid to remove? The stuff that gets stuck into carpets, clothes, hair, eyes, etc. and dries out within half an hour if not replaced to the safety of the tub? And that you then curse because you'll need to find another fiver to replace?
Two years ago I discovered that play dough can be made easily and cheaply, and the version that I use from The Imagination Tree lasts for ages in the fridge (my last batch lasted for eight months!). The Imagination Tree has a variety of recipes available but I prefer this no-cook play dough recipe, and so does my husband who does the washing up!
Basic Recipe:
Other equipment:
I gave The Boy a tray full of goodies and the mound of play dough and waited to see what would happen; it wasn't long before he was exploring the texture and shapes with the bubble wrap and the magnifying glass.
It wasn't long before he was doing his James Martin impression though and baking me cookies and a cake, glad to see I've trained him well. And of course, no Winter Play Dough activities would be complete without the obligatory snowman!
I'd seen some play dough mats on the Internet, but most of those designed for Winter also encompass Christmas or Thanksgiving, so I decided to make my own with invitations to play and design on them.
You can download a copy of these winter playdough mats here.
