Homemade Slime: AKA Gak to Some

I've been wanting to try out a slime recipe for a while now, but this was proving to be much more difficult than I thought. There are ALL KINDS of recipes floating around on the web about how to make Borax-Free slime, and I can tell you from personal experience that they were disasters.

We tried making it with liquid starch, we tried making it with laundry detergent, and it was all epic fail. EPIC. So I gave in and tried making it with Borax and we all lived to tell the tale. The boy-o didn't even attempt to put it near his mouth, and since I was the one making it, he was never near the original Borax powder, and the amount that goes into the slime is so minimal that I'm not going to worry about it.

I used regular white glue when I made it and didn't have any food colouring on hand the first time I tried making it, but I did add some blue sparkles to it. This gave it a fun sheen, but the sparkles definitely come out, and I've been picking them off him for days--consider yourself warned!

At first he really wasn't too sure about the slime since it was cold and a really different texture than anything else he's used to. He soon got over his hesitation though and started pulling and pushing it around the table. It was a great sensory experience for him. Our slime was quite thick and rubbery, and not particularly "slimy" so the next time I try it I'll add less Borax. (And some food colouring!)

So after a quick trip to the store to pick up some food colouring after the boy-o went to bed tonight, I decided to try making some more slime now that I've got some food-colouring. I made a pink and green one. All of the slimes are simply stored in their own Ziploc Baggies until we want to take them out and play again!

Here's the recipe that we used to make our slime:

Slime:

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup Elmer's Glue

- 1 TSP Borax

-  1 and 1/2 cup Water

- Food Colouring (optional)

Directions:

1. In one bowl mix 1/2 cup (4 oz) glue and 1/2 cup water. Add food coloring if you want colored slime.

2. In the other bowl, mix 1 teaspoon borax with 1 cup water until the borax is dissolved.

3. Add the borax mixture to the glue solution, stirring slowly. You may not need to add it all!

4. The slime will begin to form immediately; stir as much as you can, then dig in and knead it with your hands until it gets less sticky. (No one makes slime without getting a little messy!) Don't worry about any leftover water in the bowl; just pour it out.

Pink and Green Slime

The pink one is a pretty similar consistency to the original white one with the blue sparkles, but the green one is suuuuper slimy, which is fitting I supposed since it's green and all! 

The new colours have been stored away in some baggies too and I can't wait to see how the boy-o reacts to the new slimes and the texture of the green one.

Slime with Borax

Moon Dough/Cloud Sand

After posting my last recipe for play dough, I had several people asking me about Moon Dough (also sometimes called Cloud Sand) so I figured I'd try that out with the boy-o today. You can buy Moon Dough from most toy stores, but really for what you're getting it costs a fortune! Moon Dough is spectacularly easy to make at home, and when stored in an air tight container it lasts for many re-plays.

Not only is Moon Dough super easy to make, it only requires two ingredients (three if you want to get fancy), but it's a wonderful in-expensive sensory activity to do with your little. Moon Dough acts very similar to wet sand, but has a much softer and velvety feel to it. We added a tiny bit of food colouring to the oil when we made ours, and since oil and food colouring don't mix well we ended up with flecks of blue colouring in the sand rather than all blue sand which made a really neat effect.

 

Moon Dough (like sand) can be quite messy, so we played with it in one of our trays and we put a smock on the boy-o. We had him strapped into the highchair and put the metal tray on top of his highchair tray. It worked out really well and sweeping the spills off the tile floor was quick and easy. 

We added a few Tablespoons and some dishes from his kitchen to enhance our play with the Moon Dough. The boy-o loved scooping it up and dumping it into another container and then dumping it out and starting all over again. He played well by himself for a bit while I finished up making supper, and then I joined in for a bit too. He loved watching it "snow" when I dropped it between my fingers making little flakes of it fall.

Moon Dough Recipe:

Ingredients:

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 cup oil

- Food colouring (optional)

Directions:

1. Add a few drops of food colouring to oil if desired and mix.

2. Add oil mixture to flour and using your hands work the Moon Dough until the oil has touched all the flour and made a crumbly mixture that sticks together when pressed firmly together. 

3. Play!

4. When finished store Moon Dough in an air tight container for another day of fun.

Another great rainy day activity or boredom buster!

Super Soft No-Cook Play Dough

Play dough is one of my favourite kid's toys to play with. I love squishing it and making little sculptures with it, and then rolling it all back into a ball to play with again another day. The boy-o had never played with it before so I figured it was definitely time to make some for him to try out. I wasn't sure how well he would like the texture, but since we've been trying to focus on sensory activities the last little while, it seemed like a great time to test it out! Making your own play dough is also so simple and cost effective that once you try out this recipe you'll never bother buying it again!

The Cream of Tartar is the secret to making super soft play dough that will still that way for months.

No-Cook Play Dough Recipe:

Ingredients:

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 TBSP vegetable/olive oil

- 1/2 cup salt

- 2 TBSP cream of tartar

- Up to 1 1/2 cups of boiling water

- Food colouring

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil together in a large bowl.

2. If using food colouring, add desired amount to the boiling water.

3. Slowly add water into dry mixture and only add enough to combine all the dry ingredients together.

4. Allow play dough to cool down for a few minutes and then remove from the bowl and knead with hands several times until the dough becomes workable and the stickiness is gone. If dough is still too sticky add more flour.

5. When you're finished playing, you can store your play dough in a sealed container for up to 6 months. (6 months!)

As I predicted the boy-o was a little unsure about the texture of the playdough, and did his little dance routine where he sort of pokes at something new really quick and then hops around it, and then pokes at it again, and does some more hoping around. (It's pretty adorable and hilarious to watch...) But once he saw mama and daddy playing with it and we grabbed one of his hands and stuck it in the play dough he warmed up pretty quickly.

        

Once he got comfortable playing with it we brought one of his trucks into the mix. We drove the truck back and forth over the play dough looking at the tire tread marks that it made, as well as whether it rolled better on the play dough or on the floor. 

  

Then once he was comfortable playing with his truck in the play dough we added in some of the plastic play knives from his kitchen to cut the play dough with and carve pictures and letters into it. In total he sat and played with it for about 30 minutes, and if it wasn't dinner time I'm sure he would have happily sat and played even longer!

This play dough will keep for about 6 months in a sealed container though, so we'll have many more opportunities to play with it another day!

Sorting with Rocks

While I was playing with the boy-o in my parents backyard the other day with rocks from their garden (possibly his favourite thing on earth...) I noticed a black plant tray that was sitting on their driveway and had a great idea. I was thinking back to the pompom and muffin tin activity we did a little while ago, and figured we could make up something very similar with the plant tray and his beloved rocks.

Although there was no colour dimension to the activity this time, there was still differently sized rocks, as well as the auditory pleasure of dropping the rocks into the tray. The boy-o could literally sit and play with rocks for hours, so this activity was of course a huge hit! He loved piling the rocks into the cups and moving them around from one to the other. This activity worked on fine and gross motor skills as well as playing around with textures and sounds.

He even tried to pick up the tray and drag it over to Grandpa to show off his work when he was all done! There was almost no clean up involved in this activity, and the rocks will be there waiting for us the next time we want to play with them.

Nature Collage: Sensory Play

I saw a friend post this idea a little while ago on her blog: the Natural Momma in Me, and I knew that I had to try it out with the boy-o too! I really love the idea of making a nature collage and since the boy-o has been staying at Nana and Grandpa's during the day the last month or so, he's been spending tons of time outside in their back garden playing with rocks, plants and dirt so I was pretty sure he would love making it too.

To start off with we wandered around my parents garden collecting little leaves, flowers, petals, and bits of plants with different textures and smells. We made sure to get some lavender because the boy-o really likes to sniff it. One of these days I think he's going to sniff it so hard it'll end up going up his nose... but that's another story.

Once we got home we examined our pile of collected plant bits and I attached some Mack-Tack to our balcony door with the sticky side facing out. This was going to be our canvas for the collage. The boy-o was pretty interested in the sticky feeling and kept trying to pick it up. I showed him how to place the flower bits on the sticky surface to hold them there, and he got down to it!

He had a bit of trouble getting some of the leaves to stick since our Mack Tack was pretty cheap and not as sticky as it could have been, but with a little help we got all of the bits up and completed our wonderful nature collage! When we were all done I took a second piece of Mack Tack and placed it sticky side in so it was like our plant pieces were laminated between the two and now we can hang it up next to some of the boy-o's other masterpieces!

This was a super easy activity, that was not only very cost effective, but there was minimal clean-up required. It provided the boy-o with an opportunity to explore the plants around him though and experience some different textures as well as some different smells. This could be an interesting activity to do once each season and then compare them together to see the different kinds of plant bits you could forage.

Sensory Play: Pompoms and Muffin Tins

It's been a while since we've tried out any new sensory play activities, so I wanted to share our latest exploration with you. I've discussed the immense value of sensory play before and shared some helpful tips on how to make your own sensory toys like sensory bags, sensory bottles and a sensory tube; and of course don't forget the awesome-ness that is Magic Mud.

For a quick sensory activity that doesn't require much clean-up, the pompom one is something I'd recommend. I took a large package of multiple sized and coloured pom poms and dumped them out on the floor. The boy-o had some plastic cups from his play kitchen and I gave him two differently sized muffin tins--an extra large one and a super small one. He had a great time moving the pom poms from one tin to the other and dumping them out. He loved the soft fuzzy feeling of them, and actually spent the rest of the evening clutching onto one of them that he wasn't willing to part with! We sorted the pom poms by colour and by size into the little cups, and when we were finished we put the pompoms back into the bag for another day.

This simple activity helped to work on hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, sorting skills based on size and colour, and poms poms are wonderfully soft and fuzzy to touch. We also did the same activity using the dyed pasta that we made. Although the pasta was all the same size, so lacking in that sorting category, it made a lovely clinking sound when dumped into the trays and when being moved from one muffin spot to another.

Get creative and see what other materials you can use! What's your little's favourite item to sort and engage in sensory play with?

55 Dr Seuss Inspired Activities

A friend of mine recently sent me a link to a collection of Dr. Seuss inspired activities that you can do with children of varying ages. She knows that we're big Dr. Seuss fans in this house (the boy-o's room is Seussed out!), and that I *love* doing crafty things, so it's like that compilation was just made for us! I haven't had a chance to look through all of the activities yet, but from what I've seen so far this needs to be shared far and wide.

My Favourites:

1. The Foot Book: Fizzy Footprint- This activity is based off the Dr Seuss book "The Foot Book" and although it wouldn't be appropriate for very small children, toddlers and pre-schoolers are sure to enjoy this one! Simply take some baking soda and food coloured vinegar to create a fizzy surface that you can place plastic toys in to see how their footprints show up.

2. The Lorax: Handprint Truffula Trees- This activity is based off the Dr. Seuss book "The Lorax" and puts a new spin on hand painting. Using your fingers only you make the Truffula Tree trunks and use a stamp to paint the fluffy top. They even provide a resource on how to draw your own Lorax to add to your picture!

3. The Cat in the Hat: Stacking Buttons and Corks- This activity isn't directly related to the Cat in the Hat books, but it's very reminiscent of his balancing acts and stacking one thing ontop of another! All you need are some large bright buttons, some old corks, velcro dots and shoe box lid! A little bit of patience would help as well as the longer you let the adhesive set on the velcro before playing with it the better. Again this activity wouldn't work too well for the littlest littles, but toddlers and pre-school kids are likely to really enjoy all the different sensory aspects of this play.

4. Bartholomew and The Ooblek: Ooblek Recipe-  This particular activity is based on the Dr. Seuss book "Bartholomew and the Ooblek" and it's a definite favourite of mine! You get to make your own green Ooblek to play with (I've posted a recipe for it before and called it Magic Mud!) This activity is great for young infants who able to sit up right up to pre-schoolers and beyond! My 10 month old son loves playing with it because of the textures, and older kids will be interested in learning the science behind how it works. 

To check out all 55 Dr. Seuss inspired activities you can check out the original page over at No Time For Flashcards. Dr. Seuss' birthday is coming up soon--March 2nd, so start planning your Seuss themed celebration now!

What's your favourite Dr. Seuss book?

In our household Dr. Seuss' "A B C Book" and "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff" 

both reign supreme right now.

Craft Time: Handprint Trees

Yesterday we hosted a group playdate at our house and we wanted to do a little sensory play! There were four little boys in total and I thought it would be lots of fun to make handprints trees together, and then each little one could take home a tree with their friends handprints on it. I purchased the materials we would need ahead of time (some paint, and paintbrushes) and I had the other materials already on hand (Sketch/Paint paper, some brown cardstock, glue, and a Sharpie Marker).

I cut out a tree shape with the brown cardstock and glued it to the center of the white sketch/paint paper, leaving lots of room at the top of the tree for the little handprints. I selected five different colours of paint so that each child would have some choice as to which colour they wanted to use. (In reality it was mum choosing at this point!)

We did each boys handprint one at a time, and painted their hand before we/they pressed it onto each of the four papers. As I was painting their hands I was asking them questions like whether it tickled, or if the paint felt cold. Some of the boys liked to close their fist around the brush and squeeze feeling the paint squish around their fingers.

The results were awesome, and after the handprints were all done I wrote each boys name over their hands so that we could all remember whose was whose and keep track of which friends were over that day. We're going to frame ours and hang it up in our play space and later it will get added to the boy-o's memory book as a cool keepsake of our first group playdate at our house! The next time we host I think we're doing to dive into some MAGIC MUD.

Your Turn:

What's your favourite sensory activity to share during playdates?

Sensory Play: Magic Mud

We've talked about making your own homemade sensory toys before (like the bag, bottles and tube) but there are all sorts of other fun sensory play activities you can do too! Everyone in our household has been hit with a stomach bug this week, so the last few days have been pretty miserable all around with little chance of getting outside. Daddy was home from work today sick too, so we decided to have some group sensory fun this afternoon to help cheer everyone up a little bit and we made MAGIC MUD.

MAGIC MUD is so much fun to play with and although it can make a big mess it's really easy to clean up afterwards and washes out of clothes no problem. It tastes horrible, so if your little tries to stick some in their mouth they likely won't try that again! (and it won't hurt them if they do eat it)

So to make your own MAGIC MUD you'll need:

Materials:

- 2 cups of cornstarch

- 1 cup of water

- a large tray

- a tarp or newspapers (for easy cleaning)

- play clothes or a smock

- a damp rag for clean-up

Directions:

1. Lay your tarp or newspaper on the floor to cover the area you want to play in.

2. Combine cornstarch and water in your tray and let sit for a minute for the water to dissolve into the cornstarch.

3. Set the tray down on your tarp and start playing!

So, what makes MAGIC MUD so awesome you ask? The fact that you get to watch it change states right before your eyes. If you keep a pile of it moving in your hands it looks like a solid, and as soon as you stop and hold it still it seems to melt away between your fingers! You can scoop it up, melt it between your fingers, make a ball with it, squish it, draw in it with your fingers and then do it all over again! As you can tell from the photos, the boy-o had a great time and it pretty much blew his mind! Photo #2 is my favourite... he looks so intense trying to sort it all out. 

Homemade Sensory Toys, Part III: Sensory Tubes

I hope you enjoyed my previous post on Sensory Bags, and Sensory Bottles! Today will complete this mini series on making your own sensory toys at home. Today I'm going to show you how to make a Sensory Tube! Like the sensory bag and bottle it provides an excellent learning opportunity for your baby by stimulating their senses without overwhelming them.

Sensory Tube:

Now I realize that for most people this will be a difficult one to make, because most of us don't just happen to have a piece of plastic tubing lying around. I bought a "Yard of Licorice" in a large plastic tube as Christmas gift only to realize that I couldn't bring it on the plane because it wouldn't fit in my suitcase.... so I ate the licorice and turned the tube it came in into a sensory toy!

Materials:
- Plastic tube with lids for each end (if tube contains licorice, eat licorice first)
- Sensory items, I used marbles, plastic dinosaurs and glitter
- Coloured duct tape

Instructions:
- trim tube to desired length, mine went from a yard to about 1.5 feet
- remove one side's lid and add sensory items of choice
- replace lid and wrap both lids with coloured duct tape to ensure they remain on and closed!

Sensory Tube for shaking and rolling

Mini dinosaurs, marbles and glitter