How to get play-dough out of the carpet

We play with play-dough a lot, it's an activity I enjoy as well as my 2 and 4 year old. The only down side to play-dough is it can be messy. We usually just have to wipe up the table and pick up some pieces from the tile floor but occasionally it makes its way to the carpet. We have learned a few things in our efforts to remove it.

The best way to get play-dough out of the carpet is:
1-Dab up as much as you can using play-dough.
2-Allow the rest to dry, this will take a couple hours. (This is what's hard for me, I don't want to leave it.)
3-Using a flat object (spoon or knife works great) scrape the big pieces out of the carpet. 
4-Use a stiff brush and brush out the rest.
5-Vacuum up the remains.
 

Week 11: Make a VOLCANO!

We had a ton of fun this week.  As a child I always loved science experiments   One of my favorites was watching what happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar   This week we read a book and watched a YouTube clip about volcano's.  Then we used this awesome recipe to make play-dough.  

I have a really creative friend named Rachel.  We helped our children shape the play dough into a volcano.  In the middle we placed a toilet paper role with some aluminum foil tucked inside and used it to hold lots of baking soda.  When the boys were done adding the play dough to the volcano, we let them take turns pouring vinegar into the top and we all watched it erupt!  ; )

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If You Give a Moose a Muffin Theme Day

This is another book we really enjoy. We read it and then did some activities to go along with the book.

First we made some muffins. We made real old fashioned raspberry muffins using the recipe found here.

The kids really liked them!

We also made puppets, we made a mouse and a moose puppet.

I found the colored socks at the dollar store.  I sewed the whiskers on the mouse and the kids helped glue felt and buttons to the socks. If you choose to use a glue gun like we did be sure to put some cardboard in the sock to prevent the kids from gluing the sock together. 

We then drew some scenery for our puppet show. We used a cardboard box and sidewalk chalk. I didn't want to mess with paint. 

When we finished the scenery we hung it up and put on a puppet show. 

This was a pretty simple theme day and a lot of fun. The kids love their new puppets and I love that I found a great homemade muffin recipe. 

  

Fun with Play-Dough

I have mentioned before that my kids and I LOVE play-dough.  I have a 2 and 4 year old, they are entertained for hours with play-dough.  I like it because I find it to be relaxing while allowing me to spend quality time with both my kids. Below I have listed a few of our favorite play-dough tools and some activities and games we have enjoyed together. 

Looking for the perfect homemade play-dough recipe? Not long ago we did a huge play-dough experiment and found the perfect recipe, you can read all about it here. 

Things to Add to Play-Dough

Food Coloring- try adding fun neon colors or using gel or powder colorings for a more vibrant color. 

Glitter-make play-dough sparkly and fun.

Kool-aid- this works as a great food coloring and smells amazing.

Essential Oil or Extract- these make the play-dough smell good, only add a small drop.

Fun Tools

Kitchen utensils- we love to use our potato smasher, rolling pin, and forks.

Straws- cut straws into small pieces and let your child stick them into the play-dough.

Cookie cutters- these provide hours of fun.

Toys

   play-dough sculptures- have kids cover their favorite toys in play-dough.

   toy print- legos make great toy prints.

   foot prints- make foot prints using different toy animals.

Beads- let your child stick the beads in the play-dough.

Toothpicks- these are fun to connect play-dough pieces together with.

Popsicle sticks- kids will love trying to stick as many as they can in one big ball of play-dough.

Educational Activities

Play-dough letter mats- print off our free printable letter mats and put them in sheet protectors, your kids will love having fun while they review letters. 

Play-dough emotion faces- make different faces and talk about how different feelings are expressed (exp: happy, sad, angry). It's fun to add google eyes. 

Play-dough Earth- make one big green ball and have your child add strands of blue to it. Talk about the earth. 

Practice cutting- grab a plastic knife (or a popsicle stick will work if you are worried about your child cutting themselves) and cut away.

Fun with Coins- grab a penny, nickle, dime and quarter and let your child make imprints of each into the play-dough. Talk about the value of money and what we use money for.

Shapes- practice making shapes together.

Colors- quiz your child on their colors while playing together then experiment with mixing colors together. 

Numbers- Make lots of little balls and practice counting them.

Ecosystems- make different ecosystems (exp: ocean, desert, jungle, etc.)

Games

Whats your favorite?- ask your child questions like: "what's your favorite fruit, bug, animal " then have them make that object with play-dough. Don't be afraid to let your child add things to the play-dough. We added black-beans for watermelon seeds, pipe cleaners for bug antennas and eyes for animals.

Silly Hair- Cover a picture of  your child with laminate or put it in a plastic bag and have your child add hair to it. 

Play-dough I Spy- hide a bunch of small objects (like buttons or coins) in play-dough and have your child find them.

Play bakery or pretend to cook- have your child make their favorite treat. Pull out the muffin tin, cup cake wrappers, cookie sheet and cookie cutters, decorate a cake or make a pizza.

Potato head- make eyes, nose and mouth out of plastic pieces and let your child stick them in play-dough.

Tallest Tower- see who can build the tallest tower.

What are some of your favorite things to do with play-dough?

Week 10: Build a Fort

We love to build blanket forts at our house!  Most of the time we just use nearby furniture and throw a few king size sheets over the top!  We did this together and had a blast.  We read books, chased each other, and even ate a treat in our little fort.  Even when I was done playing with my boys, they continued to play with each other for a while.  Here's a picture of our simple fort! 

If you want to get a little more fancy then here are a few ideas I have compiled.  Whatever you do, make sure and take a few minutes for you and the kiddos! ; )

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10 Homemade Play-dough Recipes

Have you ever tried a new play-dough recipe? Was it everything you hoped it would be or was it an experience you never want to repeat?

I have tried lots and lots of different play-dough recipes and been disappointed many times, I have also tried a few that were AWESOME. The problem is I can never remember which recipes worked and which turned out to be a horrible mess. I also never know how much play-dough a recipe is going to make or how long it is going to last...it is all a HUGE guessing game. 

We LOVE play-dough at our house...it's my 4 year old's favorite activity and I enjoy it too so we have played this guessing game a lot. About a year ago I thought I'd found the perfect play-dough recipe online but when I made it I was very disappointed...it made a ton of play-dough and it was a crumbly mess. I decided I wasn't going to play this guessing game anymore. I decided to devote an entire day to making and playing with play-dough and recording info about each recipe.  

What We Did- Our play-dough day

(Pretty much we had a HUGE play-dough day!)

1- We made all 10 of my play-dough recipes the same day  (I followed directions exactly)

2- We played with each play-dough and wrote down what we thought about it

3- Measured how much play-dough the recipe made (We measured using store bought play-dough containers)

4- Took pictures of each recipe

5- Stored each recipe in plastic Ziploc bags

6- Played with each play-dough at 3 weeks, 2 months, 6 months and 9 months after making it and took notes.

What We Wanted to Know

1- If we liked the recipe or not (Trash it or Keep it?)

2- How much play-dough the recipe made

3- How long it lasted/stayed good

Recipes & Results
**Over the years we have tried some fun edible play-dough's.  They are fun but typically a one day play-dough. They don't last long and usually end up getting eaten so we didn't experiment with any edible play-dough's. 

Recipe #1 (Best Play-dough)

Ingredients

1 C Flour

1 C Water

1/4 C Salt

1 T Vegetable Oil

2 t Cream of Tarter

Food Coloring (4 drops)

Sauce Pan and Wooden Spoon

Directions (Cook all ingredients over stove)

1- Pour all ingredients (order does not matter) into sauce pan.

2- Stir until everything is mixed well.

3- Once the mixture is mostly clump free heat over medium heat.

4- Stir and keep stirring, after a few minutes it will start to clump up.

5- Stir until one big clump is formed and remove from heat.

6- Knead by hand.

Keep or Trash?: Keep! This was by far my favorite recipe, it's just like store bought play-dough! It isn't too sticky/oily and doesn't leave a residue on hands or surface.

How Long it Lasted: 9+ months (We still have it) At 6 months this play-dough was just like it was when we made it, at 9 months it was starting to crystallize a tiny bit but still great to play with.

How Much it Made: 2 1/4 containers

Recipe #2 (Great Play-dough)

Ingredients

3 C Flour
1 C Salt
6 t Cream of Tarter
3 t Oil
3 C Water
Food Coloring

Directions (Cook all ingredients over stove)
1- Pour all ingredients (order does not matter) into sauce pan.

2- Stir until everything is mixed well.

3- Once the mixture is mostly clump free heat over medium heat.

4- Stir and keep stirring, after a few minutes it will start to clump up.

5- Stir until one big clump is formed and remove from heat.

6- Knead by hand.

Keep or Trash: Keep! This is a good play-dough and makes a ton. It does leave a very slight white residue on hands and surface.

How Long it Lasted: 9+ months. At 6 months it crystallized slightly, by 9 months it was a little dry but still good to play with.

How Much it Made: 6 containers

Recipe #3 (Good Play-dough)

Ingredients

2 C Flour
1 C Salt
4 t Cream of Tarter or Alum
2 C Water
2 T Oil
Food Coloring

Directions (Heat water over stove then mix in large bowl)
1- Mix dry ingredients
2- Boil water and oil
3- Mix all together in large bowl
4- Knead

Keep or Trash: Keep! This was a great recipe but did become sticky overtime.
How Long it Lasted: 9+ months.  This recipe became sticky at 6 months but it was still okay to play with...just a little messy.
How Much it Made: 4 Containers

Recipe #4 (Kool-aid Play-dough)

Ingredients
1 C Flour
1/2 C Salt
3 t Oil
1 Small Package of Kool-aid (any flavor)
1 C boiling water

Directions (Heat water over stove then mix in large bowl)
1- Mix dry ingredients
2- Add oil and boiling water
3- Stir
4- Knead on waxed paper

Keep or Trash: Keep! This smells really good for the first week but then the smell wears off. It also stores well without having to be refrigerated.
How Long it Lasted: 9 + months. After about 3 months it is a little sticky and leaves a slight white residue but is still great to play with.
How Much it Made: 2 1/4 Container

Recipe #5 (Jello Play-dough)

Ingredients
1 C Flour
1 C Warm Water
2 t Salt
2 t Cream of Tarter
2 t Oil
1 Packet (3 oz) Jello (any flavor)

Directions (Cook all ingredients over stove)
1- Pour all ingredients (order does not matter) into sauce pan.

2- Stir until everything is mixed well.

3- Once the mixture is mostly clump free heat over medium heat.

4- Stir and keep stirring, after a few minutes it will start to clump up.

5- Stir until one big clump is formed and remove from heat.

6- Knead by hand.

Keep or Trash: Keep. This was a good one time play-dough although it doesn't last long.
How Long it Lasted: At 2 weeks it had become really sticky.
How Much it Made: 2 1/2 Containers

Recipe #6

Ingredients
1/4 C Salt
1 C Flour
1/4 C Water

Directions (No cook, just mix in bowl)
Mix with hands in bowl, knead.

Keep or Trash: Trash, it worked but was not a very good play-dough.
How Long it Lasted: At 3 weeks it was a little watery, at 2 months the oil had surfaced and it was very sticky.
How Much it Made: 1 1/2 Containers

Recipe #7 (Baking Soda Play-dough)

Ingredients

1 C Baking Soda
1/2 C Corn Startch
3/4 C Water

Directions (Cook all ingredients over stove)
1- Pour all ingredients (order does not matter) into sauce pan.

2- Stir until everything is mixed well.

3- Once the mixture is mostly clump free heat over medium heat.

4- Stir and keep stirring, after a few minutes it will start to clump up.

5- Stir until one big clump is formed and remove from heat.

6- Knead by hand.

Keep or Trash: Trash. This could be a good alternative to flour recipes, but it's not a great play-dough.
 How Long it Lasted: 3 Weeks. At 2 Months it had separated and was not good to play with.
How Much it Made: 1 1/2 Containers

Recipe #8 

Ingredients
2 C boiling water
2 T oil
1/4 C Salt
2 C Flour
2 T Cream of Tarter or Alum

Directions (Heat water over oven then mix in large bowl)
1- Boil Water and Oil
2- Mix all ingredients in large bowl
3- Knead

Keep or Trash: Trash. This would be an alright one timer but I won't be making it again.
How Long it Lasted: Molded in 3 weeks.
How Much it Made: 3 1/2 Container

Recipe #9 (Crumbly No-Cook Play-dough)

Ingredients
3 C Flour
1 C Cold Water
1 C Salt
2 t Oil
Food Coloring

Directions (No Cook, mix ingredients in large bowl)
Mix with hands in bowl, knead.

Keep or Trash: Trash, way to crumbly.
How Long it Lasted: This was really crumbly in the beginning but we held on to it for 2 months to see if it got better. At 2 months the oil came to the surface and it was sticky but still crumbled like crazy.
How Much it Made: 4 Containers

Recipe # 10 

Ingredients
2 C Flour
2 C Water
4 t Cream of Tarter
2 T Oil
1 t salt
Food Coloring

Directions (Cook all ingredients over stove)
1- Pour all ingredients (order does not matter) into sauce pan.

2- Stir until everything is mixed well.

3- Once the mixture is mostly clump free heat over medium heat.

4- Stir and keep stirring, after a few minutes it will start to clump up.

5- Stir until one big clump is formed and remove from heat.

6- Knead by hand.

Keep or Trash: Trash, Molded in 4 days.
How Long it Lasted: 4 days. This play-dough was fine (sticky) for a one-time use but did not store well at all.
How Much it Made: 3 Containers

Secrets to Making Great Play-dough

I learned a few things from this experiment::
~Cream of Tarter really helps the dough stay together.

~Don't add a lot of salt...it dries the dough out.

~Their are all sorts of ways to make play-dough: Cooking it over the stove: adding hot water to the dry ingredients and no-cook recipes. If you are looking for a store bought like play-dough that stays together well and doesn't have visible grains of salt you are most likely going to use a recipe that requires cooking it over the stove. Others are easier to make but don't turn out as well.
~Play-dough is best stored in plastic Ziploc bags that seal well. We experimented with storing it in containers and plastic bags and the play-dough in the bags stayed better longer...it didn't dry out as fast.

Wondering what to do with your play-dough now that you have a great recipe? Click the link below for some fun play-dough activities.

Fun Play-dough Activities

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Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  I loved this video, especially the last part that says, "Life doesn't come with a manual, it comes with a mother!"  Feel free to watch the short clip below, I hope you like it as much as I did.

Week 9: Home-made Gak

This week me and the boys attempted to make home-made gak!  I remember playing with this stuff when I was little and thought that they would have a blast with it.  I found a recipe for gak here!  My boys had a ton of fun dumping the bottles of glue into a bucket and then mixing in the liquid. 

We mixed and mixed, and finally ended up with this!

If you can't tell, I was a little bummed because the gak turned out kinda clumpy and the food coloring stained my hands blue.  I wonder if it was so clumpy because I didn't use the Elmer's brand of glue.  I just used the generic.  Anyways, We didn't end up playing with it!  I put it in a zip-lock and came back to it later.

I guess it needed some time to sit because when I came back to it, it looked just like it should!  That's when I pulled it out and let the boys have some fun! ; )

Have you ever attempted home-made gak!?  Did it work well for you!?

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May

Do you feel like you struggle balancing all the different roles that you have as a mom?  We do so we decided that we would choose one role that we have as mothers, and focus on it for a whole month. We would love for you to follow along with us.

In January we shared some simple things that we have done to organize our homes and also some fun ideas we have organized like mommy and me field trip groups and busy bag swaps.

In February our focus was on ways that we can show love to those we care about.  We shared our basket of sunshine post, a few of our favorite Valentines' Recipes, and Valentines Printables and had a great Giveaway for a nights stay at Anniversary Inn. 

In March we focused on our roles as Nurse and Physical Trainer.  Heather announced her pregnancy and shared some pregnancy posts including Gender Revel Ideas, Fun Ways to Document Pregnancy, and Announce Pregnancy along with some things to remember when Eating for Two, and some Pregnancy Stretches. We also shared some tips and tricks that have helped us in our journey as mothers including: Teething Tips, Ways to Drink More Water, and Hygiene Day.

In April we focused on two of our roles as mothers.  We focused on party planning and emergency preparedness. We shared some Party Planning Tips,  Birthday Party Theme Ideas and some of our Birthday Traditions. We also shared a tutorial on how to make Cake Pops and one of our new favorite recipes Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats.  We shared some posts on ways to prepare ourselves and family for an Emergency. We focused on 72 Hour kits, First Aid Kits and Car Kits, Tornado Preparedness and how to make a Family Emergency Plan/Binder. 

This month we plan to focus on our roll as an entertainer. Their are all sorts of different ways we entertain as moms but our focus is going to be on ways we entertain our children.  We plan to share some of the things we enjoy doing with our children that keep us entertained as well. 

We will continue 30 Minute Thursdays and our monthly Theme Day post. 

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