Home-Made Play-Doh

The kids woke up still bravely fighting off their colds. Okay, so Piper isn't all that brave about it, but they're getting by. Piper needed a lot of TLC. She wants to be held, she wants to cuddle, she wants to breathe. All perfectly acceptable requests as far as I'm concerned.

Today I decided it was finally time to try that Homemade play-doh recipe I found at School@Home. It worked really well!

Homemade Play-Doh:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Combine in large saucepan

Gradually stir in:
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon food coloring
Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until ball forms. Remove from heat & knead until smooth

I found the play-doh to be soft and just as good as what I'd bought in the store! A friend of mine said that the 10 cent packs of unsweetened cool-aid work really well for color and that they make the play-doh smell good. But I took her half a batch of what we made and she said ours was softer than hers. So, I think a couple of drops of scented oil would probably do the same thing. But I'll try the cool-aid.

We spent part of the day with friends playing and chatting. Then we came home for dinner and stories. We've been reading a lot lately and listening to music. In the car I put on the classical music and ask Reagan to tell me how the music makes him feel. I think learning about classical music is like learning to use a muscle you didn't know you had. I was very fortunate to grow up saturated by it.

Christmas music is also very popular in our house right now. Reagan is asking a lot about when Christmas is coming or if it's Christmas now. I keep promising he wont miss it!

I sometimes forget, when we don't have formal lessons, that my children are learning on a daily basis. They pick things up all over the place. My friends daughter gently reminded her mother today that her play-doh ball was not a circle, but a sphere! And Reagan notices things like that all the time. He asks so many questions. He wants to know about why words are the way they are, why we call something one name instead of another. I try to give him the origins of words as often as possible, and I think he'll definitely love learning Latin. I'm just so excited to see his curiosity blossom. Sure, I wish he wouldn't ask me twenty questions while I'm trying to merge into traffic, but I'm so glad that he wants to learn.