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It is essential to give our children the opportunity to play with dough.
The squishing and squashing actions associated with playing clay build their hand and finger muscles, as well as fine motor skills. And kids use clay to make everything, from alphabets to kitchen play, robots, animals, etc. This activity encourages them to be imaginative and creative. Maths is involved when they build something too! May it be shapes, balance or weight.
My older kids were not frequently exposed to playing with dough. Reason being their mummy didn’t have any positive experience with the dough they played with.
Those clay messed up our apartment. Scraping up pieces of clay stuck to the floor and furniture was a chore. Some clay crumbled into small pieces after a while, whereas others were overly sticky and our little ones were put off by the unpleasant sensation. It wasn’t easy clearing up the moulds with clay stuck in between corners too. And it was definitely not independent play, because I had to watch them like a hawk whenever they were playing clay to prevent any unfortunate stains on my furniture. I really wanted to give up on clay.
Crayola Model Magic
Crayola has totally changed my impression of play dough. The soft clay does not crumble, stick everywhere nor stain. The clay sticks only to itself! These days, my children (4 under 9 years old including a pair of 2-year-old twins) play dough very regularly everywhere in the house except on the beds and carpets.
Our experience
When we first opened the package, the clay was very soft and stretchy. A few tiny bits stuck onto our hands, but it was manageable. The texture reminded me of soft stretchy foam.
Click onto this link for a video of my tots’ experience with the clay on day one.
We do not need to lay any plastic sheets over the floor nor table to prepare the kids for a session of play dough. However, we still need to be careful as the clay gets stuck to fabrics and needs to thoroughly dry out before it can be removed. Thus sofas, beds and carpets should be avoided.
Different colored clay can be blended together to make different shades.
Since this is air-dry clay and dries completely in 3 days, we keep them in a couple of ziplock bags with excess air pressed out to ensure the clay’s longevity. Nonetheless, the clay gradually hardens over time and is no longer stretchy. We added a drop of water into the dough to soften it.
We are currently in the third week from the date we opened our first clay bag, and the dough has hardened significantly. It feels like marshmallow and breaks the moment we pull it. My eldest girl (8 years old) is still able to knead to the dough, but my little tots need lots of strength to flatten a piece. If I look at it positively, hardened dough makes a great hand and finger exercise machine, isn’t it?
Anyway, I have decided to make number models using the hardened clay for our other home activities.
Independent Play
Since the dough does not stain nor stick everywhere, I give my tots a lot of independence in the play. Before we start a play session, I demonstrate rolling, cutting, stamping, kneading, stretching once or twice. Thereafter, I try my best to leave them alone, keeping my mouth zipped so that they explore the dough while watching them play.
Independent play is a necessity for parents to enjoy a breather, and for the kids to develop their ability to play independently, and help them to build their creativity and critical thinking skills. If we parents continuously lead the play, the little ones are going to grow up relying on the others for ideas. Giv them the opportunity to tinker on their own and they will grow to become more confident individuals.
A note of caution though. Crayola Model Magic is supposedly non-toxic, but I am not comfortable with the little ones ingesting it, or at risk of getting choked by it. So I recommend kiddos who are still exploring with their mouths to play with the clay under watchful eyes.
My Conclusion
Crayola Model Magic is a great art supply to have for your little ones. Ever since the day I bought the 4oz clay pack, I went on to purchase a tub consisting of 4 packs of clay, each 8oz to share with my friends. I am now waiting for Amazon to replenish its stock for the 75oz bulk pack to share with my friends. The bulk pack consists of 75 1-oz packs of clay in different colours. Given the nature of the air-dry clay, individual packed clay small quantities can avoid wastage.
Hope I have shared something useful here. You may also like the following posts:
Holiday Art Activities At Home
My List of Meaningful Toys for Christmas 2018
My toddlers’ activities – 18 months to 24 months
To Prevent the Clay from Drying Up Soon
Our second pack of
To prevent the clay from hardening so soon, wrap the clay in the original packaging after use and store it in a ziplock bag. Press the excess air out before sealing.
We found one more way to extend the usage of the hardened clay, that is by hiding pasta in the clay for the toddlers to dig out. I am sure it was good fun for them, as they sat there quietly for 10 minutes digging the pasta out from the dough.
Keen to try out the clay? Click here to get it from Lazada now.
