Friday 15 June 2012

The Playdough Pledge

(Goblin is 32 months)
The Playdough pledge is a collaborative effort of NurturestoreThe Imagination Tree and Sun Hats and Wellie Boots. Its an invitation to trying something new with playdough in a week long playdate. 
I have to admit I didn't think I'd "take the pledge". Goblin isn't particularly interested in playdough, preferring more granular substances for his sensory play - like rice and beans. But after seeing an entire week of awesome ideas from fab bloggers I couldn't resist trying something.
nurturestore
Goblin has a bit of a summer cold at the moment so I decided to make Cold Remedy playdough. I used Nurturestore's easy no bake playdough recipe which has become my go to recipe for playdough because it never fails. But my special ingredients was a metric tonne of eucalyptus oil. And some green food colouring - I figured since its job was to cure snot it was appropriate for it to look like snot. 
I made it the night before, wrapped a block of it in clingfilm (saran wrap) and placed it on his table with a bowl of cloves (extra smell sensations). My plan was for Goblin to insert the cloves Montessori style - he enjoyed doing a similar exercise with golf tees in polystyrene. When Goblin came down in the morning he looked at it inquisitively. He went over and started to play, but after about two seconds the playdough had been abandoned and the cloves were being scooped by the digger - I told you he preferred the granular stuff.
I have to admit I felt a bit deflated. I had thought my playdough idea was a good one but Goblin just wasn't interested. So I left it and we got on with having fun in other ways. However I took the time to mention my 'play fail' to the lovely Playdough Pledge gang. They were so supportive and one of them suggested I tried again but presented it in a different way (thank you The Imagination Tree).
So when Goblin woke from his afternoon nap I gave him the playdough again. This time with a garlic crusher, a potato masher, a rolling pin and a cookie cutter shaped like a bear. It was as if he was seeing playdough for the first time! He loved it.
He spent ages using the garlic crusher to make tuffty stringy clumps - he called them snails but I think he might have been confusing the word snail and worm. Then he turned to the biscuit cutter. We have been reading Biscuit Bear every night for a week and listening to the CD in the car (Goblin likes repeating books that he enjoys). He made the link between the biscuit cutter and the book and started stamping out biscuit bears and lining them up. The great thing was that every time we rolled the playdough it released a lovely Eucalyptus smell which must have been great for Goblin's sinuses. We got to 38 biscuit bears before we ran out of playdough. Then he went and fetched the clove jar that I'd left on his table and started decoraing the bears with cloves. I joined in giving them eyes.
I couldn't believe how much fun we had with the same dough that several hours later I had written off as a failure. It just goes to show that timing and presentation have so much to do with whether a child will enjoy something - and its taught me a valuable lesson, just because Goblin doesn't show interest the first time doesn't mean I shouldn't try it again.

If you have any playdough related questions, or aren't able to get your playdough consistency right just leave a comment at one of the three participating blogs mentioned above and I guarantee they will have a great solution for you.

I'm sharing this with
Ladybird LnFor the Kids FridayClassified: Mom PhotobucketSerenity youPhotobucketTuesday Tots

19 comments:

  1. Great post! I love that you tried again and he embraced it wholeheartedly...those bears are cute!Sometimes it is the children who teach us the lesson isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so right, I'm always learning from Goblin, I think being a mum has changed me for the better, its certainly made me more patient

      Delete
  2. Nice that it worked out for you and Goblin in the end :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah I'm really glad we gave it a second go

      Delete
  3. I'm so glad you shared this. I'm always looking for cold relief. You can't keep in the aromatherapy bath ALL day. I also love the bear chain. Bobo does the same thing when we play with dough. He wants to make as many as he can.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually i hadn't thought of an aromatherapy bath - I use the steam but hadn't thought of putting the oils in too. thats a really good idea - he is sooooo snotty this week

      Delete
  4. I love the idea of adding eucalyptus oil. I also really want to try the no-bake recipe next time we make play dough. Looks like it turned out smooth and pliable for you. I ADORE the bear chain. So cute all lined up in a row like that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Ness definitely try it, I'm never going to use any other recipe, this one is so easy. Nurturestore Rocks!

      Delete
  5. Wonderful! We have used lavender and pppermint EO in our playdoughs, but eucalyptus oil is a great idea!!! My Kids Co-Op post is here: http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2012/06/wonderfull-full-of-wonder-wednesday_13.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love that you link up what you have been doing, I do try and visit everyone who comments but its so much easier when there is a nice little link there waiting. Thanks

      Delete
  6. Glad you didn't give up! Looks like it turned out amazingly well. I love the idea of adding eucalyptus for a sicky kid. Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a cold too and I've been taking it out every so often and having a sniff.

      Delete
  7. You've been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award! Please click on the link for more information :)

    http://artclubblog.com/2012/06/16/one-lovely-blog-award/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post. Mine love playdough and we have alsorts of things to cut and play with it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah I'm thinking i should invest is some more cutters

      Delete
  9. I love that you gave your kid snot coloured playdough!! Nice work with giving things a second chance too - I always find putting something tried and tested out with a new material works too!

    Thanks for stopping by The Sunday Showcase, hope to see you again this week!

    Charlotte
    makedoandfriend.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, I love the idea of a garlic press and potato masher! We haven't tried that yet. I may have to pull those out the next time we sit down to play with our play dough. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Think Geek!

    But I love the play dough idea with the garlic mincer. I will try it, thank you!

    ReplyDelete

I have decided to turn off comments on the blog as I am being inundated with spam. I do this with sadness as I love genuine comments from readers. If you would like to leave a comment please email me at TamingtheGoblin@gmail.com or visit the TamingtheGoblin FaceBook page (you can access it through the FB icon in the top right corner of the blog homepage).
Thank you for taking the time to read the blog.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...