January 16, 2014

"Soft as Cloud" Playdough (aka: Deep Cleaning Incentive)


I can still remember the first time we bought a box a Cheerios for our first toddler.

It was so exhilarating! Here we were, buying Cheerios for our baby! Eek!

What grown-ups we were!

How big she had grown!

We thought we were so cool.

But after a while, the realization started to sink in.

Cheerios are not our friends.

Cheerios are evil.

Have you ever noticed how they magically multiply once they hit the ground?

You only thought you dropped one, but really, it was thirty.

In the middle of church.

During a funeral.

And they all rolled out into the isle.

Soon you start finding them in odd places. Like your shoe, your make-up bag... your child's nostril.

I thought Cheerios were bad until we tried Kix.

Those little minions of evil are so much worse.

Though Cheerios will roll away when you are trying to sweep up the half box that somehow managed to hide under your kitchen table, they will eventually fall flat, allowing you to finish and move on with your day.

But Kix? Oh Kix just roll, and roll, and roll....

You can't sweep up those little monsters unless they have been dropped in bulk.

You have to pick them up one-by-one-by-never-ending-one.

Well, I thought run away cereal was bad.

Enter potty training.

Then, enter potty training boys.

That's a whole new world of pain I never knew existed outside of the cereal box.


But, as parents we keep trying new things so that our children will learn and discover.


So now that I am starting to feel like a normal human being for the first time in almost a year, I am coming out of "survival mode" and re-entering "actively engage" mode.

I am reinstating time limits on the television, cutting out game time on the kindle, and cooking food that doesn't come from the frozen section of the grocery store.

I feel my arteries clearing up already.


So, when I saw this "Soft as Cloud Playdough" recipe that only required two ingredients floating around pinterest and facebook, from Paging Fun Mums and Kids Activities Blog, I thought, oh ya, I can sooooo do that! 

Plus, all the comments were so encouraging since lots of women were raving about how much their kids loved this or that they used it in their classrooms at school.

And when I actually remembered to get the two ingredients from the store, I knew I was about to translated. (religious term)

I even remembered to take pictures as we went along.

I ate some chocolate to rewards myself.

We started with cornstarch and conditioner per the instructions. The food coloring is optional, but of course, much more fun.


We mixed together the two parts cornstarch to one part conditioner.


It was really messy and a pain in the bum to mix.

If it had too much powder, it would crumble apart. If it had too much conditioner, it stuck to everything.

But we finally seemed to find a decent balance and began to add the food coloring.

The instructions didn't say "beware, blending food coloring into this will give you hand cramps and frustrate you beyond all belief."

But we persevered and conquered.


I told the girls to "smile" and show off their accomplishment.

After all, they were quite demanding about what they wanted as I kneaded until my hands developed carpel tunnel, and this is what I got from them.


Silly little pickles.

Anyway, the consistency was a bit weird and hard to work with, but they were not deterred and they dug in to play.



Soon however, it became quite clear that this was really a crazy mess in playdough's clothing.



As the girls got more... eh hem, creative and set their art pieces around the kitchen, it left a trail of soft crumbs in it's wake. Every surface it touched was left with a strawberry smelling playdough mark that would dry and become a pile of soft powder that would get spread about the surface.


Not to mention it leaves your hands crazy dirty, so I had cornstarch hand prints All. Over. The. Kitchen.


So while the actual "playdough" was a disaster, I suppose I should be proud of the fact that I finally made the effort to engage the girls in something new.


And now, I need to go scrub down every surface in my house.


If you try this, I hope you get a much better result in playdough than I did.

However, I do recommend it as a way to encourage deep housecleaning.

And have fun, messy times with your children.

9 super cool people speak:

Mama Smith said...

Ha..Ha...this post will become a "classic"...smile

Brenick said...

omg, I'm so glad you posted this. I was going to try this! haha.

Serene is my name, not my life! said...

Brenick, by all means, you should try it and let me know if you have better results than I did! LOL!

But as for me, I will never make it again!

Unless I need something my kids can throw at each other outside on a warm summer day. ;)

Mary Lou said...

Serene....
I have been absent from commenting on your Blog. And for valid reason. I strained my right knee on Sunday morning!! Slipped in mud while taking out the garbage. Felt a pop. Not to mention excruciating pain. So. I have been slowly in recovery!! Although it has gotten a little better, sitting at this desktop computer causes my leg discomfort. But I shall return!! ;)
Oh darn, and just when I was thinking about making this Play Dough for my nearly two-year old niece, "Amethyst".... ;-}
--Raelyn

Heather said...

Haha, thanks for the warning =) Although, come to think of it, the house could use a good cleaning ;-)

Saimi said...

Ooooooo I'll have to try this with the preschoolers! looks like fun!!

Susan Anderson said...

What a delightful mess.

;)

Mommy Melissa said...

Have you get tried peanut butter playdough? We can't do it anymore because of an allergy, but it was a lot of fun and then the kids ate the mess they made.

Mommy Melissa said...

Have you get tried peanut butter playdough? We can't do it anymore because of an allergy, but it was a lot of fun and then the kids ate the mess they made.

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