ChowBaby

 
making homemade playdough is an easy and cheap (albeit a little
messy!) way to while away a wet and windy saturday morning. the
homemade version is just as functional as the storebought variety. but
since your kid is actually making it, there's the added fun of
measuring, counting (one cup...two cups...), mixing, splashing it on
the floor, cleaning it up, mixing some more, wondering why it's so
sticky, realizing that adding more flour makes it not sticky anymore,
and so on.... until poof wallah, you (or rather, the little bean) made
playdough!
 
here are the 2 recipes i use most (plus a resource for a few others).
 
i prefer the texture of the cooked version. but if
your kid is at the independent stage where everything centers on "me
do it!" then the uncooked version works just as well. make sure
you keep the final product in a covered bowl or ziploc in the fridge
so it doesn't go bad when you aren't using it to create pirate ships
and dragons.
 
cooked playdough
1 cup water
1 cups flour
¼ cup salt
½ tablespoon of vegetable oil or olive oil
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
combine all ingredients in a bowl. transfer to a saucepan and heat
over a medium flame while stirring constantly. when the moisture has
been absorbed the playdough is done. allow it to cool (and make sure
it is cool all the way through since i find there are often hot spots
that aren't safe for little hands) and then knead until smooth.
 
uncooked playdough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive oil
1/3 cup warm water
mix flour and salt. add oil. add water. stir to combine. once the oil
has been absorbed into the mixture (it takes a minute or two,
depending on how advance a stirrer you have). knead the dough until
the mixture forms a ball. add more flour if the dough is too sticky.
 
-m

isaac and i recently started a parent-child program at our local waldorf school. isaac's favorite part (well, besides making bread which we eat at snack time) is playing in the bean box. he loves it so much that i made our very own bean box at home. i simply filled a shoebox with one bag of dried black beans and one bag of dried kidney beans, and voila! you can do the same with pasta. or rice, though small stuff like rice, lentils, etc. make clean up a lot harder.

i'd forgotten about this great, totally absorbing, totally cheap and all natural toy from my child development/education days. i'll let my friends at eensies cover the broader educational benefits. for here, i thought that the ingenious use of food would be interesting. though there is more to it than that--there's a real food/education/child development opportunity here. young children learn best by engaging all of their senses, which is why i often let isaac touch, smell, taste (when appropriate), and even listen to ingredients as i prepare a meal. playing in the bean box provides a unique opportunity for kids to get a new sensory perspective on food ingredients.

isaac is totally obsessed with his bean box. he's been waking up from nap time saying, "BEANS!" hope your little ones enjoy this as much as he does. 

-S