Our preschool home-school studies have turned to fall since the weather is slowly changing here in Boston and more outdoor activities are popping up locally. The "school based"activities have been carefully chosen to offer a wide range of math and literacy skills, working across the curriculum to incorporate play, imagination, science, sensory and art.
While the focus of our morning studies is to help Lennon investigate and begin the decent to Kindergarten, I also have included a fall family unit, a fall bucket list of sorts. We have lots of items on our fall list for outdoor fun, indoor learning experiences and recipes that we will be sharing as a family!
Both boys are very eager to get going- jumping in leave piles, hanging at the local farms,eating all the apples, investigate the large assortment of ghords, and of course taste test every apple cider donuts that they come in contact with from several different farms stands! Right now, Honey Pot Hill Orchards is leading the pack!
Our first hands-on recipe is for homemade play dough. I personally can not stand store bought play dough between the scent, it’s expensive and it never seems to last long at our house. Not to mention, those bright colors mix together and before you know it, we’re stuck with seven cans of murky brown play-dough.
This homemade play-dough recipe is simple, natural, and perfect for entertaining children. They enjoy making it almost as much as they enjoy playing with it! My kids get to use their hands to be creative in their play, which I consider a good thing.
Ingredients for the base recipe:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 cup boiling waterI
Directions:
Heat the water to a boil. While the water is heating add the dry ingredients to a mixer of your choice. Next add the vegetable oil. Once the water boils, add it to the mixer.
I made three batches of this recipe and added the specific colors and Young Living Essential Oils directly into the mixer at the same time that I added the water.
*Let the play dough mix on a low speed until it reaches the desired consistency( not wet/sticky). If you find it to be a little sticky, add a sprinkle of flour.
We made; orange- pumpkin pie, red- spiced cider, and one that I like to call Cozy Flannel which is green in color !They are all wonderful and smell just like fall.
My personal favorite is the cozy flannel. It smells so incredible! Store play-dough in an airtight container, and it should last roughly 2-3 weeks!
Pumpkin Pie:
Color: 10 red, 5 yellow
4 drops cardamon
1 drop cinnamon bark
1 drop clove
2 drops orange
Spiced Cider
Color: 10-15 red 4 drops orange
3 drops ginger
3 drops cinnamon
Cozy Flannel
Color: 10-15 green
5 drops bergamot
4 drops orange
3 drops Stress Away
Other playdough/ diffusing essential oil recipes I have used were : 🍁crisp autumn : patchouli + clove+ orange 🍁snickerdoodle: stress away + cinnamon bark + nutmeg 🍁thanksgiving : Christmas spirit+ orange+ clove+ lemon 🍁 calm : stress away!
Ideas for Using Your Homemade Playdough
If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll enjoy playing with the homemade play-dough, but they’ll want a few toys to play with, too. I hand them some good old-fashioned kitchen utensils that make them just as happy.
These are a few of the things I give my kids when playing with this playdough recipe:
Silverware
Rolling pins
Cookie cutters
Mason jar rings
Biscuit cutters