Play dough

Play dough is so much fun to play for a 1 year old as well as a 100 year old. The texture makes it so nice and moldable.It can be squished, squashed, shredded, rolled, flattened, squeezed, poked, chopped  There is something so therapeutic about it and you can make your imaginations run wild. There is so much you can learn from it math,science, language and so many ways you can play with it. Just add in some sticks and  stones , pipes and pebbles,dal, pasta and feathers etc. It helps children improve there coordination and fine motor development. 

I remember making stuff with roti(bread) dough. Specially long snakes. My mother used to make these really cute fruits and veg with wax. With which we played our kitchen set. I am sure she must have burnt her hand while making those lil fruits. What all mothers do for their children. Thanks Amma!

There is something so cute about watching children's make belief play. My LO is at that phase right now and I can see all the little things she imitates from me and her dad. She loves making lemonade whenever in a restaurant and loves cleaning thats just like her dad. Cleaning is so not my department unfortunately. 

Pinterest is so full of recipes of these play doughs and my sis had tried making some and had recommended it . So I also decided to make some.Here is just one of the many recipes.

I think all of them are really good. Here are some lessons I learnt after making them.

1. These are really cheap and easy to make.
2. They last really long unlike commercial ones. My LO leaves the container open and it really doesnt dry that quickly.
3. I made four different colours . They looked really beautiful but it didn't take too long for my LO to mix all those colors and make it into one ugly colour. So maybe give them just one colour at a time or just let them have fun and don't bother. May be sub consciously they will learn about colour mixing :)
4. The recipe I followed recommended adding cinnamon. I personally wouldn't do it as it smells so good that you feel like eating it. Though its not toxic you don't want your kids to eat it.
5. Avoid using on carpeted flooring its quiet a pain to remove.
6. If you don't have a watchful eyes over your kids while they are having a blast with the play dough you will find them stuck under their toy truck or inside the dolls nose or God knows where.
7. Be careful not to play with it around your pets as you don't want them eating this as its just a lot of salt.
But seriously play dough is so much fun . Even I practice some of my figurines on play dough first and I can see my LO imitating me.