Over the Raindough

This past Saturday, the weather was not-so-great, and my husband was out of town. As a result, I had to quickly come up with an activity to keep my 4 and 6-year-old girls entertained in our tiny apartment while their baby brother took his afternoon nap.

I decided to go back to my roots, and whip up a batch of homemade playdough. As a child, I was never privy to the lavish store bought Play-doh brand. My mom (who is amazing) would always find a do-it-yourself version of everything. I grew up playing with batches of playdough--of the homemade monochromatic variety. These are some great memories. Especially the memory of my sister Carol eating her newly sculpted creation (I believe it was a hot dog)- and watching it come back up a few minutes later. Yum.

Hoping to provide them with some equally memorable experiences we set out to make our first batch of the homemade dough. The girls loved helping to measure out all of the ingredients, helping to stir the pot a few times while it heated up, and playing in the flour bin when I wasn't looking.
In all, a fun experience that we will definitely attempt again.
Here is the recipe we followed (courtesy of greenmomfinds.com)

Homemade Play Dough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups water with several drops of food coloring added
4 teaspoons cream of tartar

Mix ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and turn dough onto a plate to cool. Store in a covered container or plastic bag.

I doubled the recipe, and added several drops of grapefruit essential oil to my batch. A small warning: it gets very, very thick near the end of the cooking process, you will definitely get a good bicep workout.

If you aren't too keen on concocting your own playdough on your kitchen stove, you can purchase a chemical-free variety from "Over the Raindough"- a company that specializes in making organic modeling dough. "Over the Raindough" products are made with organic ingredients and no artificial colors. The ingredients of their products are listed here. I have tried out the Purpley Grape, and the Lemony Yellow varieties and am very impressed. This is the best smelling playdough I have experienced, and the texture of this dough is less "gritty" than the average homemade batch-it comes very close to the Play-doh brand (whose ingredients are proprietary- so comforting:). You can purchase "Over the Raindough" from a link on their website. A 6-pack is $29.

Goosie Cards

I am very impressed with these flash cards. Goosie Cards are essentially very high-quality flash cards that can be customized to images in your child's life. I created a customized set two weeks ago with images of our family. We live a long distance from most of our extended family so my children really get a kick out of seeing (and pointing out) cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents on these cards. You can also purchase already-made card sets with themed stock photography (see the top picture).

Goosie cards are laminated with dense plastic and are very durable- unlike any other "flash-cards" out there. The thickness of these cards is comparable to my driver's license- thin, but at the same time very sturdy. The fact that they are laminated, also makes them very easy to clean (and prevents my infant son from chewing up the corners).
My 6 and 4-year-old love to look at these cards during church and on subway rides. My 18-month-old loves to spread the cards all over the living room, and then turn them over one at a time. His favorite card is the "llama" from the animal kingdom set. Don't ask me why, but he is a huge llama fan:).

Another great aspect of this product, is that Goosie cards have been recognized by the autism community as being an effective treatment/teaching tool for children with this condition. April is Autism Awareness Month, and to show their support for raising Autism awareness, Goosie Cards will be offering a 15% discount for parents and teachers of children with autism. Additionally, Goosie Cards will be donating 15% of all on-line April proceeds to "Autism Speaks", an organization that raises autism awareness, and helps to fund autism research. Autism currently affects 1 in 150 children worldwide (1 in 94 boys).

You can purchase customized Goosie Cards on goosiecards.com. A set of 10 customized cards
runs 28$. Themed, pre-made (non-custom) stock photography sets start at $16. Goosie cards will be offering a 15% discount to citrus readers for the month of April. Enter the code "april" at checkout.

Who wants to win a set of customized Goosie Cards? One reader of citrus will receive a certificate to create their own 10-card customized set. Email us at citruscontest@gmail.com
before Sunday at Midnight to be entered. Include GOOSIE in the subject line, and in the body of your email tell us what is your favorite set of pre-made goosie cards from this link.

-Theresa

Dancing Alligator

I am a big fan of the "Dancing Alligator" by Plan Toys, for a bunch of reasons. One, is that this toy keeps my 18-month-old very entertained. He loves to pull this little toy around and watch it "dance." This Alligator makes a "slinky" back and forth movement, and a little "clacking" sound when you pull it around- which just thrills my son.

I have become a lot more picky about the toys I purchase for my kids ever since the major "lead paint" recalls that have occurred over this past year. My son loves to put everything in his mouth, and because of this, I have done a lot more research on toy manufacturers before I make a purchase decision.

I am particularly impressed with the Plan Toy Company. All of their toys are made from organic, renewable rubberwood, which is painted with water based dyes. All of their toys are formaldehyde and lead-free.

Plan Toys also has an environmental focus. All of their toys are packaged in recycled materials, and the company even uses solar panels to power their kilns.

What I am most impressed with, is that Plan Toys can do this all- and still keep their toys reasonably priced. The Dancing Alligator retails for about $14.99, which is considerably cheaper than many of the European-brand pull toys I had considered (which have a similar safety "resume").

Plan toys has an expansive product line, and I am excited about seeing more of them in the future.

Please be aware, if you are considering purchasing this, that your child will need a lot of smooth floors to run this around on. If you have wall-to-wall plush carpeting throughout your home, this is probably not the toy for you.

You can purchase the Dancing Alligator (which won the Oppenheim "Gold Award," by the way) at Amazon, Babycenter, and Oompa.

If you have not entered the Muffatee give away, read the following post, and do it! You have until midnight tonight.

Sign Language Flash Cards

My six-year-old came home from kindergarten recently with excitement oozing out of her. A guest speaker had visited her class, and had introduced them to the ASL alphabet. She was eager to try out her newly acquired skills. For the remainder of the day she replaced a verbal "Yes" or "No" answer with a signed response. After a few days passed, however, she realized that she could not remember all of the letters she had previously learned. She would start to sign a word and then ask....."Mom, how do you sign a (place any letter here)?" Of course, "mom" is the source of all knowledge (at least when you are 6), so she was shocked when I could not provide an answer.
There are a few charts on the internet that you can download and use to teach you children the ASL alphabet. However, each chart I would print off ended up drawn on, or chewed up by baby brother- so I set out to find something a little sturdier to help us in our sign language studies.
I came across this set of Sign Language Flash Cards in Pottery Barn the other day. It includes 26 cards (all of the letters of the alphabet) and their corresponding sign. It is made of very sturdy material. Usually when I think of "flashcards" I think of something pretty flimsy and relatively small. That is not the case with these cards; they are each very thick, durable, and measure about 9"x 4". I did not hesitate to purchase these, knowing they would be sturdy enough to survive to the day my child #3 wants to learn to sign the alphabet, plus- I knew my 6 year-old would love this set in her easter basket (and it is sugar free!;).
My one-and-only qualm with the set is the packaging. It comes in a very cute box, but it is nearly impossible to put all of the cards back inside (they are supposed to slide in). If it is a hard task for me to accomplish, I know it will be impossible for my kids. So, the original box will end up in the garbage room, and the flashcard set will have to find a new home- probably in a zippered pencil case or something.
In all, a great educational teaching tool that will survive a lot of "love" from young kids. It retails normally at PotteryBarnKids for $14.00 a set, but is currently on sale "in- store" for $9.00. My guess is that the website will reflect the discount price soon.