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Play Dough


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Posted

Mundia - are the carrots whole /sliced / grated what sort of texture does it create?

Posted

Yes I am unsure as to whether the carrots replace part of the water or the flour. I am afraid I can't guess . When I bake I have to know the exact ingredients. My mum never weighed anything and her cooking was always good but I can't do that.I am lucky if my cookiing turns out O.K if I weigh. If I guessed I dread to think what would happen?????

Guest alisonjayne
Posted

we had fun last week and got the children to make up a basic dough and then gave them each a large ball and asked what colour they would like their dough to be. We then added a little brusho which gives a fantastically vibrant colour and doesn't make the dough sticky as it is powder based. The children seemed to enjoy the process of the dough starting of white then marbled and finally their requested colour. it reminds me that we must do that again soon

Posted

how comfortable are you about using what is essentially food -for the chidlren to play with and throw away. I'm alright wih playdough but find it difficult to use rice (i'm a rice eater) with chidlren just for their 'fun' to be discarded later- its the same with pasta and noodles in in water tray!!

 

I always remember my mum's ancedote about the "starving millions" when i waste food, and this still makes it difficult for me to justify ussing food materials for play.

 

Odd or what!!! :o

Posted

Interesting perspective Leo! The first head teacher I ever worked with refused to allow us to use pasta etc for the very reasons you mention. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that the foodstuffs I am using are not really going to make a lot of difference to the situation, so with moderation I will use them but I do have to admit to wondering about the waste of fruit and veg that we sometimes incur when using them for printing! :o

Posted

Understand your feelings there Leo! How about approaching places for 'out of date' stock?

We used to do that when i was at the pre-school. Not that it often paid dividends..... :o

 

Sue :D

Posted

Thanks for all your replies. So it WAS the SF flour to blame! Luckily I used plain yesterday to great sucess in the microwave for the first time-I'm definitely going to start doing it with the children every week-they love it.

About the moral food issue...I was on a course once where this was brought up. When I said that we have to make our own dough/use pasta etc as collage materials because they cost a fortune otherwise and school wouldn't fund us somebody said 'I would advise you to check the LEAs policy on that..' :( The thing is, I understand that, especially in schools where there are a high percentage of refugees who have come from really poor countries, it could be seen as disrespectful but the fact remains that a bag of Tesco Value flour costs about 20p (I think!) and pasta not that much more whereas the catalogues (where we had to spend our £100 for whole FS yearly budget-for EVERYTHING-I'm not kidding! xD ) are ridiculously priced. We are ultimately responsibile for providing these learning experiences for the children and I'm sorry but when its coming out of my own pocket I'm not willing to pay any more. On balance I feel my responsibilty lies with teaching the children to the best of my abilities using whatever resources I think are necessary and we can afford. I think the fact that in 2004 there are still people starving in the world is apalling but third world debt and these 'mountains' of food being wasted because of political issues are a WASTE not a bit of flour/pasta being used for a reason. I know i'm getting on a soap box here :o and that its more about what we teach children and a moral issue but surely as long as we teach them to appreciate the things they have and not waste food unnecessarily then the rest is out of our hands. Obviously I'm open to changing my mind about this one though! Just can't imagine a world without playdough and rice collages though! What wwould we do! :D

Posted

Can't resist saying one more thing!

I suppose then the debate would be: 'WHAT IS UNNECESSARY WASTE?' then surely it could only be justified that food is used for eating. Fair enough. Don't waste flour and pasta but then spend your money on a MacDonalds? Now you're talking immorality and waste.... :o

Posted

Did I actually get onto greed and Capitalism from playdough? :o

Posted

My feeling is that if we start going down this road then where would it end? Are all 'arts and crafts' wasteful, for instance. We use paints, collage materials etc once only and ultimately most of it gets thrown away by parents. This is an attitude I've come across before. My previous Chair frowned upon foodstuffs being used not just because of the starving millions but also because she said I was encouraging children to play with their food. :o

Posted

Playing with food is a tactile, investigative activity! At least thats what I tell them. We put stuffing mix into the dough today, yummy smell :D

Guest alisonjayne
Posted

not thought of that one Rea, must try soon

Ali

Posted

Also, food is a natural product and far mor environmentally friendly that a lot of the plastic used to make commercially available sequins etc :o

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