scented squishiness!

Over the years of our homeschooling adventure, we've bought our toys, educational items and craft supplies from a variety of sources. One of our absolute favourites has been Natural Pod. The kids and I LOVE this online store!

Recently, Bridgitte from Natural Pod gave us a complimentary set of their newest product - Mama K's Play Clay, to try out. This natural and even gluten-free dough is filled with the scent of AMAZING essential oils:

lavender - to soothe

bergamot - for tension

sweet orange - to uplift

geranium - to balance

lemongrass - to inspire

Liv favourite was the lavender. I adored the lemongrass (if truth be told, I would have loved to create two little nostril shaped balls to hold in my nose all day long....Odd, yes, but it smells divine!!....Although the green colour may have not been very attractive for nasal embellishment!) When asked which was Briar's favourite, he declared that each one in turn was his chosen....They are just all so good!

Anyhow, we spent a good portion of the afternoon creating....First, boats with toothpick masts, a variety of food shapes and then for the piece de resistance, we created a rainbow-hued family of slugs (of which the 'directions' Liv is hoping to post on her blog - Stay tuned!)

I loved how soft the dough stayed all afternoon. My hands felt smooth, moisturized and smell STELLAR after we had retired our new favourite molding material.

Thanks so much, Bridgitte and Natural Pod, for the afternoon of heavenly scented, gastropod shaped fun!!!!

best play-dough ever

I stumbled upon this book at the Sally Ann quite awhile back. It has crafts and recipes that are SO easy but a tonne of fun. We have made the play-dough in here two times and it lasts and stays pliable for ages. We made it about six months ago and it is still going strong! It is softer and smoother than the store bought stuff and not feeling rough from too much salt like most homemade recipes.
I thought may be someone else out there could use a fabulous play-dough recipe: 500 ml (2 cups) flour
250 ml (1 cup) salt
5 ml (1 tsp) cream of tartar
25 ml (2 tablespoons) oil
5 ml (1 tsp) food colouring (optional, but more fun, in my opinion)
500 ml (2 cups) water
-Mix ingredients in saucepan over medium heat while stirring constantly. It's done when dough starts to leave sides of pan.
- Remove from saucepan and knead for a few mintues once it's cool enough to touch.
*We just keep ours in a closed container when we're finished.
A totem pole!