For those of you who don’t know, I used to teach. Yes, I did. I taught first grade for 5 years and I loved it. Not to brag, but I was fairly decent at it too. I ended up quitting my job to stay home with Kyra when she was born but, I never really lost the itch.
Every once in a while, when my inner clam, zen self gets flustered, I pull out the repressed lesson plans in me and we try them out here at home. I have summer reading and math books. Yes, I know… I am one of THOSE moms. My kids are very, VERY into arts and crafts. Lucky for them, their mother is too! So, a lot of our summer and off track time is spent with the right side of our brains.
I also will admit that I am not afraid of a mess (no comments on my house here please) and I will get my hands dirty no problem. A lot of our projects get sticky and gooey. Monday, after I dropped Kyra off at school, I came home to my boys and my niece and nephew. My brother in law was still sound asleep and I didn’t want to just turn on the TV. So, we made Kool-Aid play dough.
Kool-Aid play dough is fun, easy, exciting, smells great and cheap to make. I will buy normal play dough but, more often than not, I make my own. The kids love it. Here is the recipe for you to try at home:
1 C. flour
1/2 C. salt
3 T. oil
1 Package Sugar Free Kool-Aid (or the knock off)
1 C. boiling water.
Pretty self explanatory. Add the first 4 ingredients. Mix it up a bit. Add the water and mix with a fork. When it cools down a bit, turn it out onto the counter and knead it up really well. Then, when it has cooled even more, hand it to your kiddos. 
Later in the day, my brother in law, took off with his kids and my kids were left bored (which I still don’t understand.) Well, my acutely tuned teacher brained switched on and I whipped up three batches of pudding. The kids took the bowls and paint brushes outside and I let them loose. They love it. It is relatively easy and cheap and the kids love that they can lick their brushes clean. A little yucky, I know, but it keeps them happy. 
Anyway, just a couple of ideas to keep you in the know of what is going on in my madness of a home!
3 Comments
What great ideas! How fun!
Incidentally, if anyone reading this wants/needs to make gluten free playdough, substitute the following for the 1 c. of flour: 1/3 c. soy flour, 1/3 c. tapioca flour, & 1/3 c. white rice flour. 🙂
Darci, when Paul and I finally have kids, we'll have to get together with your kids. I love making messes and doing non-directed art projects!
We did pudding painting a few weeks ago. The boys ate at least half of it. When it dried I let them glue on googly eyes and turn them into chocolate monsters. I'll have to try that kool-aid play dough 🙂