Playdough

We had a great time with playdough today...for one of the first times, the kids really dug in and enjoyed a lengthy playdough session- and put very little in their mouths.  I made the dough with roughly this recipe , which was about the closest to my mom's recipe that I could find at the moment.  I highly recommend nice, warm playdough on a cold morning (we were waiting in the cold for the furnace repairman!).  If your playdough isn't fresh, try sticking it in the microwave for a few seconds- it is well worth it for the nice feeling!

I made balls of dough for Violet and gave her a toothpick and a bowl.  She worked really hard at poking the balls and putting them in the bowl...and then back out...and then back in...and then onto the ground.

 Matias started off by rolling "snakes" to make into letters.  Then we did some printing by pressing legos and spoons into the dough and made "George the Jumping Giraffe" (which sparked off a great conversation about why George and Giraffe start with G, but sound like J!)

 Then Matias discovered he could make faces with the dough:

happy faces








angry faces








and sad faces

But the favorite, by far, was discovering that he could make food...pancakes, hot dogs, and BIRTHDAY CAKE.  We got out the marching band toppers from his 3rd birthday, and he made cake after cake...singing "Happy Birthday," blowing out the toothpick candles (or letting me and Violet have a turn), and then cutting it up into 3 equal-ish pieces for the three of us to share.  Lots of fun!