Produce Play Dough

I love homemade play dough.  I think it smells better, and is more pliable than the store bought versions.  As a child, the best smelling play dough was made with Kool-Aid, a fruity concoction that filled the kitchen.  So when Nurturestore, The Imagination Tree, and Sun Hats and Wellie Boots started the play dough pledge, I gladly accepted.  

The pledge is to try something new with play dough.  There are so many creative ideas that I want to try with Aidan and Devin someday, but when I found microwave Kool-aid play dough on The Chocolate Muffin Tree's blog, I knew everyone would enjoy it.  I usually cook my play dough on the stove and use food coloring, so cooking it in the microwave was new for me, the Kool-Aid was new for Aidan.  We used grape, orange, and cherry flavors.

As usual, Aidan loves to be involved in the process.  I love that he is interested, because cooking teaches valuable math and literacy skills.  He is finally using the term "ingredients" now when we cook!

 While we talked about the process of play dough making, the fruity smell wafted around us, which got me thinking about fruit, of course!  The next day, I set out a cutting board, a scale, a plastic knife, a leftover grapevine from an earlier snack, and some green pipe cleaners with the play dough.   This was great ball shaping practice for Aidan, all the "fruit" was round; oranges, grapes, and cherries.  We talked about other fruits and vegetables that have the same colors, and decided to add "carrots" to the mix.

 Aidan sliced and weighed the "produce."  I left a pad of paper and a pen near by, hoping he would write down the numbers he saw, as he weighed the "fruit salad" that was filling the container on the scale.

 He was too busy slicing, smelling, and offering "samples" to me!

Trying something new was worth it.  I found that microwaving, as usual, is a faster method that I will continue using.  What will you try?  

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