Search Results for: blog homemade play dough and clay recipes

Using Play Doh to Teach Preschool Lessons

Play Doh is one of my favorite preschool activity toys and art mediums. Mashing the dough can creating people, ice cream cones, pizza, and animals, is as much fun for me as the kids.  I am not sure what came first, the lessons I developed using Play Doh or my desire to play and the need to make it count as part of my lesson plan.  Nonetheless, I have come up with a way to play and learn.  Now, when my husband comes home and finds Play Doh mashed in the carpet its all good. In all seriousness, using a … Continue reading →

Creative Gifts for Artistic Home Learners

I love creating kits for the holidays. A themed gift can be much more interesting and less expensive than other gifts because it all works together. If you or someone you know has a craft-oriented home learner, here are some gift ideas and some ways to work them into your home learning. Everyone loves clay. It’s natural and feels good on the hands. Buy natural clay and get rollers for it. These can be as simple as dowels from the hardware store. You can also give younger home learners the materials to make homemade clay, like baking soda and cornstarch. … Continue reading →

How to Save Money on Play-Doh Fun

Kids just love play-doh, much to the despair of many a mom who dreads the chance of the play-doh crumbs getting in the carpet or elsewhere around the house. This is why I think of spring and summer as play-doh season, since a small table out in the garage, driveway or backyard eliminates the mess. The other detriment to play-doh, is that it can be expensive after a while, especially when kids mix up all of the colors or let it dry out. The play-doh kits that you buy that feature all of the neat tools are more expenses. But … Continue reading →

Make Your Own Dinosaur Eggs

I’ve seen a lot of dinosaur egg toys in stores lately. They look like sandy rocks. The idea is that you gradually scrape them away or break them open to find the toy inside. They don’t cost that much, but it is fun to make your own. Plus you can do different toys and different colors if you make them yourself. These are fun surprises to hide in the sandbox or around the yard. But they are also really fun for the kids to make themselves. It’s like mud pies with a purpose. To make dinosaur eggs, all you need … Continue reading →

2006 in Review: Homeschooling Blog at a Glance

As a new homeschooling blogger at Families.com, I wanted to know everything that has been discussed to date. In response to my own curiosity, and in an effort to make perusing our articles easier for you, our readers, I have compiled all of the blogs for the year 2006. Deciding to Homeschool Why homeschool Am I qualified for this? Reasons that Homeschooling Works! My Most Important Advice for Homeschoolers. The Cost of Homeschooling Instead of standing up for their own kids, why not stand up for all kids? Disclaimer: I am hardly an expert in education. Did You Know? ‘Empirical … Continue reading →

Erupting Volcano

My son is fascinated with volcanoes. As we drive he will often comment that a certain mountain looks like a volcano, mainly because it is cone shaped and flat on top. Then he worries that it might erupt and cover us with hot lava. I am constantly explaining that it is not a volcano but a plateau. If you have a volcano lover like my son or just a child that likes to see things erupt this project is perfect for you. Remember it can get kind of messy so take the eruption outside. The first step is to construct … Continue reading →

Tips for Home schooling Multi-Aged Children: Printable Worksheets for Preschoolers

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There are numerous times during the day, when you simply have to work individually with your older children and cannot include the little ones. For me, these are also the times when my preschooler just HAS to have my attention. Preschoolers, with their inquisitive minds and insatiable appetite for getting into things, are many home school moms’ biggest challenge. In an effort to try and figure out how to keep my 3 year old occupied without needing my help, I developed a folder of resources and worksheets that I got free from the internet. When all else fails, she has … Continue reading →

Let’s Talk Dirty

Dirt. It’s the perennial enemy of the parent. We tell our children not to get dirty. We tell them to keep their clothes clean and when they come home wearing red sauce painted in a motif across their pale yellow shirt coupled with dark dirt stains on their pink shorts – we sigh, we smile and we throw them in the wash. The beauty of this – is when our children come home painted from head to toe in sweat and dirt – guess what – they wash too? Give Yourself a Break I don’t know how many times I’ve … Continue reading →

Homemade Play Dough and Clay Recipes

In my last blog post, I mentioned how you can occupy your preschoolers with various activities during your school days. One of the suggestions that I gave was to let your child play with edible playdough. Playdough is a great activity and it builds motor skills, helps develop creativity, and encourages imaginative play. Before we get to the Playdough and Clay recipes, I want to introduce some very fun and inexpensive (yet very messy) activities for your preschooler. First, one of the best fingerpaints any preschooler can experience is pudding! Yes, that’s right, pudding. This is the perfect activity for … Continue reading →