Skip to main content

Making a mess

My friend Ellie writes a blog which I now shamelessly crib ideas from, when I am stuck for something new to do with Toby.  Some time ago she wrote about a substance with the poetic moniker of cloud dough.  It sounded simple to make and fun to play with, so I tucked it away in the back of my mind.

The recipe is childishly simple: 8 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of vegetable oil, and mix.  It comes out kind of sandy, although softer and more powdery.

Now, Ellie has two gorgeous girls.  Her blog entries were full of photos of them adding pretty objects and creating cute little landscapes.  I, on the other hand, have a full-on hands-on get-stuck-in-as-far-as-possible boy.  This is what happens when you let him loose on a scatterable substance.

We make it and it all starts well.  Notice I have prepared for mess with a large tarpaulin and lack of shorts.

A few minutes in, and the mess is spreading up the T-shirt.  It's still mostly in the tray though.

 From that point on the spreading becomes faster and faster...

 Oh what the heck, why not just sit in it?

So much for keeping it off the floor!

The next time I got the cloud dough out, I dispensed with Toby's clothes altogether, which unfortunately means most of the photos are censored.  He was much more interested in pouring and filling all the bowls and cups that time, but it still somehow got everywhere.



Should you wish to try this for yourself, I offer the following recommendations:
  • Only get it out when you were going to mop the floor anyway.  Not, in any circumstances, when you have just cleaned the house.
  • If at all possible, get the kid safely in the bathtub and clear the worst away while he is in there.  Otherwise your lovely clean kid hops out of the bath and dives straight in again.  Or else he tracks it all round the house while you are cleaning up, if you don't put him in the bath first.
  • However tempting it may seem, do not hoover large quantities of this stuff.  Unless, of course, you like dismantling vacuum cleaners.  It sticks to their innards something chronic.  Small amounts are OK, and the easiest method when your kid has just run across the carpet and jumped on the sofa before being bathed (see above).
  • Store on the highest, most child-proof shelf you possess.
  • Try and have fun!
Labels:

Comments

Sally Eyre said…
Check out this chart before you see if Toby reacts like other kids - it may help!

http://susan.sean.geek.nz/Schemas%20in%20Areas%20of%20Play.pdf

I use schemas a lot in parenting my two. K is really into enclosing and enveloping whilst J is into transporting and connecting with a dash of rotation. I get some really interesting conflicts with toys - but this just helps me usnderstand it is due to their different world views. Can chat some more if you find this interesting.
7 October 2012 at 22:08
David Nu said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
25 January 2019 at 06:12
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions.  The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?"  This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them.  Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone.  That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of.  Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died.  And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was.  His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...
Post a Comment
Read more

Laid-back Lille and Bustling Brussels

After a night in a tiny AirBnB in Canterbury , where there were chocolates on the table and artwork on every inch of the walls, we boarded a ferry with an absolute minimum of fuss, enjoyed a smooth crossing of the channel, and were deposited in the decidedly unscenic surroundings of the port of Dunkirk two hours later. Once we got past the cranes and shipping containers, though, the countryside was flat but pleasant. We stopped at a small town called Cassel, reached by cobbled roads winding up a hill. On the summit was an old windmill and a topograph telling you the distances to various improbable places; St Omer may have been visible in the haze, but Manchester was surely over the horizon.  In Lille, we found our apartment, unpacked the luggage (one rucksack apiece), and set out to find food. Our first choice was fully booked, so we embarked on that kind of aimless wandering where everyone is hungry and no one wants to actually choose a restaurant. We reached a Lebanese place call...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canterbury Cathedral

We were booking a trip to France, and I persuaded the family that it was madness to drive four hours to Dover and get straight on the ferry. "We should definitely stay overnight somewhere," I said. "Oh look, Canterbury is very handy - just twenty minutes from Dover." Of course, my suggestion was not influenced in the slightest by the fact that Canterbury contains England's most famous cathedral. On the way down, we stretched our legs on Dunstable Downs, an area of chalk grassland owned by the National Trust. I was pleased to spot a scarlet pimpernel for my 100 Plants Challenge . We also enjoyed watching gliders ascending and descending. We turned onto the M25 and made our way through busy traffic to the Dartford Crossing. This is one of those mythical points on the UK road network, like Scotch Corner and Watford Gap: the name familiar from traffic reports on the radio; the reality - for someone who grew up west of London - a hazy blur of imagination. It turns ou...
Post a Comment
Read more