As you know by now, I love thrifting. And now that I have kids there is a whole new category of things to shop for at the second hand store. Indeed, I had one of those, "hunh, I guess I really am a mom now" moments the other day when I came home from the local thrift and emptied my bag to discover that I hadn't bought anything for myself, just stuff for the kids. Well. I never thought I'd be the kind of person who does that. But there it is. I had a bag full of kids books, kids clothes and random toys. I always check out the books, because I love books and so does L.D. and its such a good way to stockpile for a rainy and/or cranky day when you just might need fresh books. I also have started to pick up toys for that purpose. Though heaven knows, this kids does not need more toys. Where have all these toys that fill our house come from? I'm pretty sure I didn't purchase even half of them! But even though we have lots, there are a few things I always buy when I see them in second-hand stores. (because they are expensive of difficult to find new)
1. Wooden toys. (very expensive new, and so nice to play with)
2. Wooden blocks. (because you can never have too many)
3. Vintage Fisher Price, especially Little People.
4. Large good quality puzzles. (He loves doing puzzles and it getting quite good at them)
5. Tractors and Diggers (because he loves them)
6. Toys from my childhood (because I'm a sentimental fool)
And a couple of weeks ago I found one that fit into the later category, and then tucked it away in the closet to wait for the right moment to bust it out. And today was that moment. After breakfast, as I was helping him get dressed, I said to the Little Dude, "Lets hurry and get your daytime clothes on, because I have a surprise for you." This is a phrase he loves to hear, and never fails to answer with "What's dat surprise called?" He is absolutely consistent with this reply, even though I've told him that the point of a surprise is that you don't know what its called. But I just said, "you'll see" and went and pulled this out of this closet.
Do you remember this? Its the Play-Doh Fun Factory. Which Hubs and I both fondly remember playing with. It cost me $1.50, and came with almost two of everything which makes it lots of fun for playing with together.
Before we could start playing with it we had to make some playdough. I must admit that I really don't like the Play-Doh brand stuff that you buy in the store. It smells gross and feels waxy and the colours are lurid. They actually call it Play-Doh Compound, which is kind of, er, suspect as well. Plus I have no idea what sort of evil they put in it to keep it from spoiling or drying out for a ridiculously long time. Probably the same stuff they put in McDonald's fries. Anyhow, my mom used to always make playdough for us, so I did the same. Found a good recipe at Mommy Footprint (good site in general). And that was all part of the fun, and the Little Dude loves to measure and scoop and stir too. And since this was not a edible food recipe, he was allowed to put his hands in the bowl and make a lovely mess. He really enjoyed measuring the flour. He happily ran his hands through it telling me over and over again, "Its soft! Feel it mommy, it SOFT!"
So the playdough came out really well, nice and soft, good malleability. And really non-stop fun for most of the day. He played with it before lunch, after lunch (and would have been during lunch too if he'd had his way) after nap, and then we cleaned it up just prior to dinner. He really wanted to play with it again after dinner, but we went for a family walk instead and he was ok with that, since we promised we'd play with playdough again tomorrow. Anyhow, back to the Fun Factory. They still make these, so you don't have to buy them second hand, if you can't find one. L.D. LOVED it. You stick the dough into the back of the machine, press down on the handle and voila! Dough extrudes out though the shape you've chosen in the most pleasing manner. Both Hubs and I enjoyed playing with it at various times of the day, along with L.D. And Hubs now has big plans to make fresh pasta with it (well see...).
But I think L.D's favourite part of the whole thing was that... ...it came with a knife! And a rolling pin! Both of which were great fun to use. Though the knife was the best. Knives are his favourite implement these days. Followed closely by screwdrivers and "cute little needle-nose pliers". He looooves to use a knife. He's only allowed wooden or dull ones, but very much enjoys hacking away at things in any case. And having complete independance and great success in this circumstance was a big hit. Because playdough is very easy to cut. Much easier than bread. Or fabric for that matter. Both of which he's tried.
So we squished and skwooshed and molded and extruded. And coiled and chopped. And made snakes and worms and snails and storm clouds. And pretended it was food and pretended it was trees. And carefully made things and set them aside in a pile ("that's my collection", he said) and then happily destroyed it all and made it over again.
It was so much fun. It made our fingers taste salty. We'll definitely do it again tomorrow.
Can I come over tomorrow?
Posted by: brooklyn_codger | 08/30/2011 at 03:33 PM