Homemade Play Dough

I have twin boys that just turned 4 and a daughter that is 9. I sometimes have a little difficulty getting the boys to patiently wait for their "schooling" while I work with my daughter. I am so blessed that the boys love "school". We don't do any official curriculum, but we have certain things we work on regularly: saying their abc's, counting orally and with objects, spelling their names orally (and now starting to write it), reading books, coloring, etc. The problem is sometimes they are done with a independent activity before I can finish with my daughter.
I love the idea of them having an activity box, and often times they will get out their blocks and play with them. But I recently found something they love even more - play dough!

I had seen recipes for homemade playdough on the internet and decided to try it. I wasn't sure how it would go, but it was worth a try. I made a batch last night with things from my kitchen (plus I purchased some Alum out of the spice section of the grocery store). There are lots of recipes on the internet - you can just google "homemade play dough" like I did. Most of them called for large amounts of flour (like 4 cups) but I wanted to try smaller version first. So, here's the recipe I found online and used:

Alum Playdough

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 tablespoons of Alum

1 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

liquid food coloring

Pour dry ingredients into large pan. Stir together to mix. Stir oil and food coloring into the water. Pour liquid into the dry ingredients while mixing, squeezing and kneading the playdough. If too sticky, add more flour. Keeps best in the fridge.

I found that we did need like an extra tablespoon of flour.. and there was enough for each of my 3 kids to have plenty to play with. You could add a little extract to make different scents - but I didn't want to entice the boys to eat it. It is all natural since all the ingredients are edible and from the kitchen, but I don't believe it would taste very good. Perhaps that would be for an "older crowd". They sat and contently played with it for a couple hours last night (until bedtime).

The boys weren't sure what to do with it at first, and I decided next time I would give them some cookie cutters to use with it. I also noticed that as I put it away - the dough was a little dry. It will probably need some more water and a little oil when we get it out again. You could also do different colors to give some variety.

Until next time, much love and God bless.

Courtney Short-Prudhomme

Homeschooling Mom Extraordinaire

Initial Paintings

Head on over to my blog to learn how to make these lovely initial paintings with your kids. Even parents who aren't creative can easily organize this project!

DIY Comic Books: The Evolution of Mom

by Mandy Mom

Evolution of a mom as seen through the drawings of a child.
(actually, I drew the photos, but they are based on real drawings of my
children's and my own as I aged.)

In the beginning, all mothers had arms formed in place of their ears. Also, mothers seemed to be in a constant frown. (Doesn't this remind you of a two-eyed version of Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc?)

Over time, mothers evolved, and even gained hair, duck-like mouths, and well, bodies, as their arms moved down.

Scientists aren't sure when mothers began to take on the form they have today.

Eventually, mothers finally gained a sense of style.

Which leads to the mother specifies as she exists today. A word to the wise. It might not be a good idea to encourage your child's artistic abilities by signing him or her up for an art class in, say, Characatures, because you might end up with an exaggerated version of mom you don't care for.

The End.

(Thank you for checking out my doodles. Please realize that these are merely doodles and do not represent my true artistic ability. Ha!)