Dinosaur Play Dough

This afternoon I decided to direct my  two year old son to some toys, in particular dinosaurs and play dough. These are two of his favorite things (insert Julie Andrews singing).

We have a hand me down play dough set that is a volcano. I thought that would be perfect since my youngest is learning from my oldest that the dinosaurs may have died due to climate changes; volcano eruptions, and more.

I got out several small and large dinosaurs for him to play with. He decided that the dinosaur needed eggs to guard. Oddly enough the volcano set had a spot to make eggs. Perfect.

He also started placing the play dough on one of the small dinosaurs to make it be a baby in an egg. He also made dinosaur tracks in the play dough. I did not direct him in his play, he did this all on his own.

I was excited that this last minute decision turned into such fun play. I would like to say after we did this activity we read a book on dinosaurs, but alas we played with trains instead. I'll follow up today's play with one of the many dinosaur books we have; my oldest wants to be a fossil hunter when he grows up. That or a rock star, or a board game designer, or a daddy. I'll take any of them.

By the way, the youngest wants to play the "butair" (guitar) when he grows up.

Scented Play Dough (try #2)

I have been experimenting with scented play dough with a little success. I really enjoy incorporating the scented play dough into class, it allows for more senses to be engaged while at our sensory table. Plus it is so much more fun to play with than store bought. It is softer, and more organic looking. If the kids help, they have a sense of accomplishment to go a long with it.

I believe I am on to something with this recipe I found here. I am making it to play with in our class room and to give away to my friends to play with over the break.

I started with the cherry drink mix and it smells wonderful. I was very happy to see that when I put in the boiling water, it turned red/pink right away! Success. Here is a photo of it after mixing. Nice, right.

The grape drink mix, not so much. It did not disperse as well as the cherry drink mix, as you can see in the picture. It just did not want to mix. I did stick with it and after a long mixing period and letting it rest it turned out. I am thinking if I would have used two drink mix packets it would have turned out better.

After I tried this I decided to go to the store to get more drink mix. I am glad I did.

Here are the mixes prior to adding the oil and water.  The flavors are Lemon Lime and Cherry

After adding boiling water. The color pops. 

My boys helping me mix the dough.

The end result. Not too bad! You can tell which Cherry had two packets instead of one. 

The verdict after my boys saw it; success! They loved the texture and the smell. We played for a long time in the kitchen tonight.

If you are going to try this at home, here are my recommendations: get double the amount of drink mix,  your color will be vibrant and the scent fantastic. Allow for a practice batch. Although I followed the directions to the letter, I had to keep adding flour a teaspoon at a time to get the right consistency.

Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator and it will last for weeks.

Do you make your own play dough? If so, what is your favorite recipe?