When you have little ones it is a good idea to have activities that are safe for them to be involved in and that offer lots of fun. I have never been big on toys. My kids never seem to like them much. We rarely find toys that they just play with over and over. They do however, love art and will occupy themselves with drawing, coloring and painting for large chucks of time. I love creative play like this.
When my son was almost 2 years old I made him some play dough. He would sit at the table with cookie cutters and a butter knife and mold all sorts of objects. There is so much to learn from playing with play dough, such as the different colors you get when you mix colors. I recently made a large batch of play dough and colored it green, pink and orange. The colors were so beautiful and the texture of homemade play dough is so much nicer than store bought. It is also non-toxic, which is important and if anyone tastes it they wouldn't want a second helping. It tastes terrible. The kids made all kinds of meals with the colors I gave them. They had peas, carrots and ham. The food actually looked real.
If you want to inspire some creative play for your little ones try making some play dough. It is fast and easy to make. To store it place it in a ziploc bag and refrigerate.
Homemade Play Dough Recipe
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 1/4 Tbsp. oil
Food coloring
Mix color and water, add oil and mix everything together in a pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball. Knead till pliable.
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