Kids and growed-ups alike, like playdough. There is something quite calming about squishing up lumps of putty. But there is a downside to shop bought dough, kiddywinks and dizzy parents aren’t too hot at remembering lids. Then the playdough goes all crunchy.

So I turned to Nana welikeplay and nicked her recipe. It makes very good playdough; soft, elastic, inedible and smooth for mere pennies.

You will need
a large saucepan
1 cup of flour
half a cup of salt
2 teaspoons of cream of tatar
1 cup of water
4 drops of food colouring
1 teaspoon of oil

Drop all the dry ingredients into a cold saucepan. Give it a quick mix. Add all the wet stuff, stir, and take it to the hob. Keep stirring for a few minutes until the dough becomes a smooth lumpy ball. It’s now good to go. After play store in an airtight container, like the ones the old dough came in.

Enjoy

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, 5up, makes, money matters

… not floater floaters, but bath toys dropped into the loo to act as little boys targets.

Perhap, if you’ve boys in the house, you may have noticed puddles forming around the loo. Aiming is an acquired skill that takes some of us well into our mid-twenties to achieve, but it is possible to develop it earlier. Find an old bath toy, not too big and not too u-bend blocking small, and drop it into the bowl. It’s kind of cruel to use rubber duckies, so I plumped for a funny floating monster thing that came in a bar of gooey soap. Then give the command to sink it. Little boys concentration comes to the fore, and no more puddles to be seen.

To clean, simply flush. We use one of those in bowl germ nuking tablets, and they don’t seem to dissolve the floaters - at least of the plastic variety. Though a year or so back I did have to manually unblock a lodged floater that was a little too small for purpose.

Enjoy your puddle free home.

tag... play, 3up, be healthy

This ones not getting filed under ‘be healthy‘ but just sometimes I need to step back from the news and teach the value of treat and restraint.

Squish is an increasable edible substance. Somewhere between pink alien goo and bliss. But very easy for little cooks to make as a present.

You will need
quater of a 500g box of icing sugar
quarter of a pat of unsalted butter
a splash of milk
half a teaspoon of vanilla essence
one growed-up handful of marshmallows, or two little-one handfuls
some coloured sprinkles
a flat tin lined with greaseproof paper
a little saucepan

Double check, line the tin with greaseproof or lose it forever. Sift the sugar into a bowl. Melt butter in a little saucepan… hot, hot, hot. Add the milk, vanilla and marshmallows to the butter; stirring until gloopy. Pour goo into the middle of the sifted sugar, quickly mix out the lumps and pour into the lined tin. Really… make sure it’s lined or you’ll never remove the squishy. When cool enough pat some sprinkles in to the squishyness and bung into the fridge for a while… about two hours seemed to work. Turn it over, pop it out and slice it up.

“I shall call you squishy, and you shall be mine, and you will be my squishy.” Dory

Enjoy… in moderation and as much restraint as you can all manage.

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, 5up, cooking

I love crunchy autumnal walks. The cold crisp air, small children bobbing like balloons through the trees, the colours and the sounds; it’s childcare bliss. The only down side seems to be the pockets full of collected treasures that are presented to me. Yellow and red leaves, conkers half shelled, sycamore and pine and bits of interesting bark. Collecting isn’t the problem, it’s the storage. These things will pocket-compost if left; not nice.

These treasures have to be kept special though, so I’ve been racking the grey cells and come up with the Autumnal Scan. Once we’re back from the walk we’re going to polish up all the treasures and drop them artfully onto the computer’s scanner. Voila, one printable picture to stick up. While the detritus can be happily fed to the worms.

Enjoy.

tag... play for today, 3up, 5up, be healthy, collecting, enjoy and achieve, geeky, out and about

Bizarre name, good game.  Imagine the classic playground stuck-in-the-mud without the crawling.

This game has become a firm favourite in the  welikeplay garden for the last 6 months, since the boys were taught it by one of their growed-up friends.  She, in turn, had been off on a disability equality course where she had been introduced to the game, as one with greater accessibility.  It also growed-up players to join in.

The classic stuck-in-the-mud is a game of tag, where the one who is it has the sticky touch.  When tagged you must stand still with legs apart until another player crawls between your legs to free you.  A great game, except if you have mobility difficulties, or are a barrel-chested 32 year old; then it kind of precludes you.

Toilet tag is a new spin on this game.  When you are tagged you have to stand in an ‘I’m a little teapot’ / 70s  camp stereotype pose.  You’re then freed by others coming up to you and flushing your hand handle and whooping FLUSH out really loud.  Lots of giggles.  Lots of players.

Enjoy.

tag... play for today, 3up, 5up, be healthy, running wild, traditional games

You know with small kids you often end up with a few wipes at the bottom of the changing bag which are not as soft and moist as they could be. I’ve come up with a way of using them for a little make and do crafty activity.

You will need
a handfull of botty-wipes
some old poster paint that’s started to separate out, or some new poster paint with a little more water added
newspaper
a dab of pva glu
a couple of wooden clothes pegs

Pre-prepare the wipes by folding them in half and cutting out a half a butterfly shape, this is a growed up job as safety-plastic scissors don’t do the job.. Make sure you keep the body to the fold so that they can unfurl later. Put out lots of newspaper together, then drip the runny paint onto the wipe-wings. The paint will start seeping through to the other side and spreading out mingling with other colours around it; very pretty. Move onto the next one until interest wanes. Once dry use a blob of pva glue to attach the butterfly’s body to a clothes peg; when full dry and colourfast clip to curtains to show them off or a den to make a fairy grotto.

Enjoy.

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, makes

One of my earliest school memories is in making peppermint creams in the small ‘cooking’ kitchen of my primary school. I suppose cooking is a grand word for what is essentially mixing, squishing and leaving, but we all have to start somewhere.

There are two entwined recipes here; as a parent I make my fondants with raw egg white, but as a minder I’d have substituted in water and put up with them going crinkly around the edges.  I’m lucky though, to have a secret weapon in my garden. For some two years now we’ve been raising the welikeplay HQ chickens, and so I can guarantee really fresh, healthy and above all salmonella-free eggs.

You will need
half a box of icing sugar
1 smallish egg (or 5 tblsp water)
a couple of drops of peppermint essence and a drop of food colouring
greaseproof parchment lightly sprayed with sunflower oil

read on »

tag... play for today, 2up, 3up, cooking

I’ve been incredibly lucky, in the years I’ve been doing childcare I’ve only had to deal with a few toddler explosions; and only, so far, from mine own.

Tantrums happen, I don’t believe that any parent gets away scott free. Instead we have to develop our own schemes and strategies to respond to these upwellings. Frequently they are born of frustration, toddlers have so much tumbling around in their minds that they often struggle to get it out using the few words they have. Often this is compounded as they reach a developmental milestone - I remember a week of stropiness, followed by the ability to use the past tense quite well indeed. Or perhaps its a situation where the toddler feels insecure in the midst of a barrage of new experiences; like theme parks, parties, or the bright glow of the supermarket. The Rev’d Welikeplay quite often warns of the post-baptism freak out, usually the day after a family event where the child is simply hacked-off with being passed around.

Top 3 tantrum tips: read on »

tag... play, 2up, 3up, be helpful, philosophising, stay safe

Today I’m having to get my head around some extra-calm and gentle play; No1 child has been poorly, and needs something to occupy, entertain and support, rather than play that causes explosions. Poorly play is interesting idea in itself, it gives a little ’space’ in which the child can fit and helps them find their current limitations. This is true not just on the extreme end of the health spectrum found in good paediatric wards; but for those recovering from flus and tummy bugs at home.

Nest Building

A lovely thing to do, which helps children get all ‘comfy and comfortable’. Bring duvets and pillows down to the sofa, shape them into a little cave or nest for your fledgeling. Take in some books or a DS, a sippy cup and a favourite cuddly for a day slobbed out in style. Getting a little bell gives them the illusion of control as you take on a nurse-butler role.

Scrabble

Always a good standby, particularly as kids work out they need your full attention to play. For 5ups can I recommend Junior Scrabble as a useful starting point; and if there is really, really other things you have to do, for older kids there’s Scrabble on the DS which can be taken into their own quiet nest.

Stick People City

After the sofa nest my kids recover to the kitchen table, and we’ve been know to design Lowry-esque stick figure cities. Depending on your child you may be asked to join in or stay clear; but there are stories in every picture, which you may be lucky enough to be told whilst you prepare the obligatory hot chicken soup.

Hoping your little one gets well soon.

Enjoy… as far as you can

tag... play for today, play, 2up, 3up, 5up, 8up, be healthy

This is a simple ‘play for today’, but one that has found a recurrent place in my quiver of play.  Small children love stories and, in particular, stories that they can engage with and become part of.  Perhaps, at a deeper level, its because us humans are some sort of narrative machine, or maybe its just ‘cos its fun.

You will need
a small table, I often use an ikea stool and child’s chair
the toy box
15 minutes to half and hour

Simply start to pick and gather toys up to the table, the toddler may well join you and select some of their own favourites.  Sit with them and start to enquire after names for the animals, dolls and cars.  Ask how each toy is feeling, and what they want to do, and if they’re doing it by themselves or with other toys.  It won’t be long before a story emerges, if you’ve time and the inclination, jot down the tale to be retold the next day.  Continue until it peters out.

Enjoy

tag... play for today, 3up, enjoy and achieve