Best No Cook Play-Doh a Multi-Sensory Learning Experience

 

Best Ever No Cook Play Doh, Play-Doh DIY Recipe- Approved by mom and easy enough for kids to make themselves - get your kids in the kitchen and start creating After years of buying store bought play-doh, and many play-doh recipe failures. I think we have officially stumbled across the best no cook play-doh recipe ever. We use play-doh both during read loud time and for busy bin free play.

 

I have found when children are able to keep their hands busy during read aloud time they are more likely to pay attention with their ears and less likely to want to speak over me; thus, making our time together much more enjoyable and productive.

While play-doh can be messy at times – it is still my preferred messy, fun activity {especially over glitter glue..}   Play-doh is great for fine motor development. The malleable properties make it an excellent choice for building hand strength and pre-writing development. It can be squashed, rolled, chopped, poked, and shredded allowing for hours of endless imaginary play.

Check out just some of the creations our kids created in our time together this week. Everything from play-doh pizza’s, ‘sugar’ cookies, to snakes, snails, and turtles –

Best No Cook Play-Doh a Multi-Sensory Learning Experience Want to make their open ended play-doh play time even more exciting? With a few simple supplies you can create an expansive play-doh tool box at a minimal cost. Here are some of the play-doh tools in our box;

    • small toys {dinosaurs, fish, farm animals}
    • straws
    • rolling pins
    • egg cartons
    • sea shells
    • buttons
    • plastic letters and numbers
    • popsicle sticks
    • plastic spoons, forks, and knives {you can omit this of coarse…our kids are a bit older now so I am comfortable with their ability to use them safely}
    • plates/bowls

 

Each of our children are typically given a tray with their selected dough color {they are encouraged to share}. I then, place a ‘tool box’ of supplies in the middle of the table for community use. They play and I read to them. When you add open ended play items to their dough experience the imaginations explode. {Encouraging them to create things they hear in the story is also another great way to ‘test’ their listening and comprehension.}

Want a multi-sensory experience? Flavor up your dough by adding any of these –

  • pumpkin spice
  • cinnamon
  • essential oils
  • ginger
  • oregano

Make it pink, blue, and yellow too…we use plain old food dye but, you can try any of these too I’m sure with an equally good result…

 

Add some texture –

  • rice
  • sand
  • glitter
  • tiny pasta
  • sequins
  • pebbles

Want to try the recipe we use?

Best Ever Play-Doh Recipe

Be sure to visit our Kids in the Kitchen page for ‘live’ demonstrations, kid friendly recipes, more mess, and lots of fun. Never miss a thing from My Happy Homestead sign up to get “The Homestead Daily” Free to your in box.

Best No Cook Play-Doh a Multi-Sensory Learning Experience

5 Ways to Throw An Allergy Safe Birthday Party

gluten free, allergies, gfree, food, family, birthday, celebrations, graduation
Photo Credit; 74 lime lane

My little guy’s 4th birthday was just last week and I’m happy to report he recently has made great strides in the food sensitivity department. He has been taken off his gluten free diet (well, kind of) we don’t eat a ton of it anyways because of our other children but he has also been able to consume small amounts of dairy- whoohoo praising God for small strides in the right direction.  We celebrate the big and small things around here.


I did however, find myself in a bit of a party planning hick-up as I planned for his upcoming birthday party. How do I even begin to plan for all these allergy sensitive kids? 

Chances are pretty good whether you are hosting a kids birthday party or back yard BBQ for friends, and family- you will now days likely be serving a guest or two with a food related allergy or intolerance. 

Is it our heavily processed food diets? The pollution? Or better medical advances  – who knows? It is what it is. “According to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011.”

5 Ways To Throw An Allergy Safe Birthday Party

Provide the food menu to guests in advance -when sending out the invitations put the main menu right on there. Now days, that is as important as having the address location of the party. Let mom or dad decide for themselves if little Johnny is going to need an alternative snack, main coarse, or dessert. 

Save every food label and clearly label everything– whether your setting out crackers, chips, or dip–save all labels. This just makes life a whole lot easier there is no questioning or second guessing “what” is in a particular dish. Also, when serving up all those fun finger foods, main dishes, and desserts it’s especially helpful to label them with cute little tags notifying reading guests what exactly is on that fancy platter. 
Show respect to your allergy sensitive guests without making a scene– it is always a kind gesture to greet all the guests as they arrive- a warm greeting, a word of thanks for coming, and a brief instruction of where “safe” foods are located is especially helpful and very well received without making a huge scene and embarrassing your guest. 
Snack and finger food control – be mindful of what snacks you are serving and where they are located. If you have gluten sensitive or celiac guests attending it maybe best to leave their snacks in a completely different location (i.e indoors) . This includes goodie bags- kids love that special treat at the end of the party-but, why not make it a container of bubbles, a set of sidewalk chalk, or crayons and coloring book instead of that traditional candy bag- I personally can not stand candy treats- they have literally been ban from our house (I know-I’m so mean) but honestly the crying over what the kids can and can’t have is torture on the entire family–it’s totally not worth the hassle. I will gladly wear the “mean mom” card for this one. 
Accept help– instead if stressing over serving all the “right” foods if an allergy sensitive child’s parent offers to help with something- accept the offer. Save yourself the hassle of making sure it is all “right”. They are offering to see that your child has a successful party and that their child’s needs are efficiently met. They aren’t offering to be nosey or over step their boundaries- they truly want to help. So, accept it but don’t abuse it. 

Celebrating the Gift of “She” (F.M.F)

So we meet again. I’ve been buried deep in school books and lesson plans. I’ve been unpacking a boat that has served as our cottage from May to September. A mothers work is never done and the gifts  never seem to stop coming. So embrace the moment, seek joy, and let’s ride..

It’s Five Minute Friday time…the prompt is ‘she’
The rules; write for five minutes, no extreme editing, give some comment love, and visit the beautiful Lisa Jo-Bakers sight to link up! Join me! 

The sun is shining and the day is drawing to an end. A drive home from a full day of work and a due date looming over head. Today is the day they guess my baby should arrive. However, an earlier appointment says otherwise. Trying to keep myself busy; I begin to prep dinner and plan for an evening walk with the dog. No sooner does my mind begin to wonder; there is a pop, and then a gush of water. Like a balloon popping on a summers day a constant stream as if it will never stop. My husband sleeping soundly as visions of sharing in one last meal dance through his head. He is instead awaken with a startle; a quick toss of the remote and a gathering of bags. This is our first and their is still so much to learn; are we fully ready to accept such a gift? 
Ready or not; what was once our ‘it’ is in fact a ‘she’.
“She” is 8 today! 
Our 6 lbs 9 oz bundle of joy. A sweet soul that warms our hearts daily. She made me a mom, him a dad, and us a family. She quickly becomes the center of our world. The fears that once lingered in our minds and hearts are a thing of our past; and, the world we once knew revolving around me quickly turns to a home filled to the rim with we.
We are so blessed to have her in our lives. Arriving much before our humanly, naive, and self centered ‘original’ plan we are quickly reminded like so many times before we are not the ones in charge; for it is HE and the very gift we were to welcome was in fact “SHE”

Stop!

Wishing my beautiful little girl all the joy in the world, blessings beyond measure, and a life filled with all that God has promised. Happy 8th birthday Pumpkin.