A Dough For All Seasons (and a little bit of literacy)

Playdough is big at our house.  It was since the kids were toddlers.  We grew from pretend cooking with miniature bake ware to making elaborate fairy houses.  I love to connect all of our activities with the outside world, especially with the seasons (and calendar holidays). I have a great homemade recipe that is cheap & easy. I switch it up a little to give the kids a color and fragrance of the seasons/holidays.

I made a batch this morning anticipating any rainy days left in our dwindling summer.  AND I have an ulterior motive with my younger firecracker who refuses to "learn" anything that has to do with school.  I will share my scheme below. First, let me get to the recipe:

3 cups flour
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups salt
2T vegetable oil
1T cream of tartar

Although today I had to improvise since I had no vegetable oil.  I substituted coconut oil; it worked fine and now I have a new summer scent for August!

Take all ingredients and mix them in a saucepan.  Set heat to medium and stir constantly, scraping the sides of the pot.  Until it turns into a big ball of dough.

Turn out on wax paper and let it cool.  Store it in a Ziploc bag and it will keep for a month, if not longer.

When I change my theme for each month, I add the ingredients below to the saucepan with all the other items I mentioned above when making the playdough.

This is my usual rundown for all the months of the year:
January: Snow- 1T peppermint extract, generous amount of blue glitter
February: Valentine- 1T cinnamon, 5 drops of red food coloring
March: St. Patrick's Day/Start of spring- 1 envelope lime Jello, 5 drops green food coloring
April: Spring- 2t lavender essential oil, 5 drops of purple food coloring
May: Strawberry Season- 1 pack strawberry Jello, 2 drops red food coloring
June: Peach Season- 1 pack peach Jello, 2 drops 3 drops orange food coloring
July: Blueberry Season- 1 pack blueberry Jello, 5 drops of blue food coloring
August: Late Summer- replace vegetable oil with coconut oil
September: Apples- 1T apple extract, 5 drops red food coloring *apple extract can be hard to find.  I'd check at craft stores in the baking section during the fall or order it on line through this online store I have used before.
October: Pumpkins- 1T pumpkin pie spice, 5 drops orange food coloring
November: Warming Foods- 1/4 cup cocoa
December: Christmas Cookie/Baking: 1T vanilla extract, 5 drops yellow food coloring


Now for my elaborate plan:
I found these little cookie cutters at a yard sale years ago:

I will have Mya make playdough letters out of these cookie cutters and form words as listed above.  You can see the word "sat".  I will have her change the first letter with each one above so she is "reading" new words. I will also try this with -ot, -it, -am, etc.  Hopefully she won't catch on that this is a phonics lesson. ;) Later we will write them on paper to see if we remember.

Also, I am guilty of going to Toys R Us to pick up a pack of traditional playdough.  How can I refuse when I found these relics salvaged from my childhood?

Feel free to post in the comments sections as to anything different you may try with your homemade playdough in regards to the seasons or holidays.  I always love new ideas.

Traveling light, is the only way to fly...



I wish we were flying somewhere far, foreign, and exotic, but we are driving our mini van to Washington, DC and then visiting our families in Pennsylvania.  The kids have recently taken an interest in our nation's capital and government, so we decided to research the area and visit.

I found some great ideas for walking tours around the city in these two books: Washington DC with Kids and City Walks with Kids, Washington DC





We will be driving 8 hours to DC, then and additional 4 1/2 hours four days later.  We are seasoned travelers in the mini van. We take about three or four long distance trips per year. Both gals love to travel and travel well, so it is not too difficult to keep them entertained.

Here's the top picks for our 2012 traveling season:

We carry most of our items in this nifty travel case. We started using it a few years ago, it is great for coloring and writing. I should also mention that we keep these cases and their enclosed items packed away until we are on the road.  That way, they do not lose their luster before we leave.  These are strictly "travel toys" and are only played with then.

Inside we have some items that will hopefully keep them busy for hours!

-Magnetic toys.  Remember Colorforms?  These are very similar. They have a great selection at Dancing Bear Toys. I thought the gals would be soon outgrowing them, but they still love to play with them when we travel.

Old school activity books:  Yes & Know, Mad Libs, and Sticker puzzle books.

I found these books at local craft stores such as AC Moore and Michael's, near the checkout area.



My friend Abbie made the gals these cool pencil/crayon rolls.  They are great for travel, restaurants, doctor's office, or anywhere you need to keep you kid occupied.  She used to sell them on Etsy, but has not in a while.  Here is a quick tutorial I found on Pinterest.

We also like I Spy books. Our favorites are the I Spy brand and we also like a few from Usborne Books.

One other big hit with us are these Melissa and Doug travel games.  We like them because there are no little pieces to lose.  Everything is secured by an elastic band.

We have hopes of learning a lot in Washington DC and writing one more place on our travel list.  We are excited to spend time with family in PA and relax. Hopefully our traveling toys will make the journey fun and enriching.  Of course, if there is a traffic jam on I-81 or the beltway, we always have our portable DVD player and Annie or MegaMinds on tap ;)