Mixed up Play-doh

As a teacher and as a mother I tend to be more rigid than necessary with things. As a teacher I unused to justify it as I needed to keep things organized with a room full of children. With my own sons, I think it's as much habit as anything.

The other day I decided that Colby needed some one-on-one focused time with me. So on Monday I opened up a Christmas gift of his and let him go to town playing with me. We decided to open up a play-doh kit.

Now as a teacher, and often as a Mommy, I had the rule that you used one color play-doh so that they colors don't get mixed up. I always felt this helped it stay in the containers better and no one was complaining about the colors being mixed.



Well when Colby and I were playing this we through the rules out the window.



Colby had a great time just playing and making his ice cream concoctions. When Blake got home from school they took it out again and the two of them played together for a long time with it. They even took out the Monster Trucks and they got in the fun.



Sometimes you have to throw out the rules and just let them mix the play-doh.

play dough therapy?

Yesterday was one of THOSE days. The boys we wound up before Richard even left for work. I thought going to the Y and then to the playground would help, but NOPE! Lunch was terrible. They goofed off and spend more time playing than eating. You know what that means... a long lunch and a grumpy momma.

After lunch I decided we needed to try to change gears. I know Play Dough. A nice quiet activity. I even broke out new tubs of play dough since the old ones were well old.

This soooooo worked! I was shocked to watch the change in their moods. We played for near an hour. They switched colors, shared tools, encouraged each other and laughed and smiled. When they began playing the volume was loud. They were banging the play dough and slamming things around. The more they manipulated it the calmer they got. They began rolling it out and working with the scissors. They worked with cookie cutters. The volume in the house lowered. The loudest thing was not laughter, and not because someone was being super silly.

I sat with them and played too. It is very therapeutic to smush the play dough between your fingers. To roll it and manipulate it into shapes. It got me thinking about how beneficial something so simple can be. I know that it is a great fine motor tool (clay is even better for this). Getting children to work with small items, rolling, pinching, cutting, all those things help develop fine motor skills. But the texture, feel and versatility of play dough is great for frustrations and other moods.

So the next time things seem loud and crazy... break out the play dough. Sit down quietly and play with the kids at the table and share a bit of play dough therapy time. I know I will.

Rare mommy moments

As a stay-at-home mommy... I'm the one who spends the most time playing with the boys. But, I'm also the one who takes the most pictures (mostly by my choice). Every once in a while, Richard will grab the camera and take some pictures of me playing with the boys. He took advantage of this on Friday. Here are some pictures of the boys and I