04 July 2012

Put Away Something New and Introduce Something Old


These school holidays keep the kids entertained and eliminate cabin fever by going retro - let them play with the things from childhood past.  After all there is only so much time a young child can tolerate playing video games, especially in inclement winter weather and only so much time that we parents want them to play video games. Old standby favorites such as play dough, flubber and good old-fashioned coloring books will keep the children entertained for hours.

Playdough

Mix two cups plain flour, one cup salt and two tablespoons of cream of tartar. Add two tablespoons oil, two cups water and a few drops of food colouring. Stir together then dump into a large fry pan and cook like scrambled eggs. Keep stirring until its no longer "wet". It only takes a few minutes.  When it looks like playdough, dump it onto the bench and knead for a few minutes. That's it!

I keep it in recycled takeaway food containers (the ones with the lids, like Chinese takeaway) plastic bags.

Flubber

This is great fun to make and even more fun to play with. In a container, put some PVA glue and add a small amount of cold water. Mix it well to thin down the PVA. Add some food colouring. Now, carefully add boiling water, mixing well, a little at a time, until it is thick and resembles playdough. Turn it out and knead it well. Then go have some fun with your flubber!

And when they are tired of sitting still, an old-fashioned tent made out of blankets and chairs will delight them. Whip up some hot chocolate and a batch of caramel popcorn and put on a movie and peace will be yours.

3 comments:

  1. Just caught up with your last few posts and enjoyed every one of them.
    My Grandchildren are coming to stay for a couple of days, one of there favourite things to do at Granny's is look through my old photo albums, they love to see their Mum when she was little......

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  2. Love this advice, and it was perfectly timed as I had 4 kids (2.5-almost 6) at home in the rain. Is there supposed to be borax in the flubber recipe? It didn't work when I tried it and then when I googled it, I saw that most recipes had borax in them.

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  3. Great ideas! You can also make playdough a bit more quickly (ie without making a pan dirty) by using boiling water instead of cold water - just add it to the rest of the ingredients and mix until you get the right consistency.

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