I am lucky enough to have an extraordinary mum who also happens to be an extraordinary Granma and also has had decades of experience in early learning. She is always coming up with simple ways to keep things interesting.

Enter Play Dough, I have always found it a little frustrating. Given Boston’s short attention span and strong impulse to explore everything with his mouth, the whole experience sometimes feels more effort then its worth. But mum shared a little idea that increased play time by 200% and decreased mouthing by 50%.

I am calling it Play Dough Discoveries! (clearly someone else probably named it this already) All you need is some play dough and smallish treasures. Wrap the treasures up in a ball of dough and set them out for little ones to discover.

We used a really simple recipe, the consistency and texture was pretty divine

1/2 cup salt
1 cup plain flour
2 tbs cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tbs oil
2 to 6 drops liquid food colouring (depending on your desired colour)

Method
STEP 1 Bring water to the boil, dissolve salt, add oil and food colouring.
STEP 2 Mix into dry ingredients, then work into soft dough with your hands.
STEP 3 Allow to cool and store in a well sealed plastic bag or container.

Next time we are going to fill the discovery balls with large glitter flakes, hoping to create a breaking Geode effect. This would be pretty wonderful for older children who are learning about geology, something we will use further down the track no doubt 🙂