November is here! I love the season of Thanksgiving! We have already been super festive this month. I’ve even been pretty good at posting on the blog this month… I love sharing our holiday traditions!
We officially decorated on Monday and I’m in love with our decor. There is something so cheery about this time of year.
We’ve started our I’m Thankful For ritual every night, as well! Such a great way to teach kids to recognize specific things in their day.
I even got festive with the kids today, too! We made pumpkin spice scented playdough and the kids were in heaven!
I had to clarify a couple of times that we don’t eat the playdough, it just smells good!
As I was putting my kids down for naps, Lanae asked… Mommy, why don’t we do that more often?
I thought it was an excellent question! It was so fun!! But then I looked around at my kitchen and I remembered why.
Occasionally the mess is worth it!
They were both so happy and quietly playing for over an hour and they took crazy long naps after! Huge benefits, right? Plus another awesome benefit is some amazing quality time and lots of fun memories.
So I know that both of my kids love to help me in the kitchen, but sometimes having them both in there means fighting, screaming and lots of frustration for me. I decided to avoid this today. We made two batches and the kids took turns helping with a batch.
I started with Lanae because I knew that I could trust her to play with the playdough on her own while I worked with Owen to make his batch. Owen’s a bit younger and still sometimes has a hard time following instructions when he is super excited.
If you haven’t tried this playdough recipe, it is a real winner!
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup salt
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp cream of tarter
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- food coloring (enough to get it to the color you would like)
- Toss all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir until everything is combined and there are no lumps.
- Turn the stove on to medium heat and continuously stir until it starts to clump... Then keep stirring until it is all one big clump!
- Remove from heat and knead by hand.
- Don't overcook because then it dries out. If you do accidentally overcook the playdough, just spray some cooking oil on your hands and knead it into the dough.
- If it is too sticky, sprinkle a little flour on the table while your kneading and it will stop sticking!
- Store in an airtight container and it will last a long time!
Another playdough we love is this Kool-Aid Playdough…
And check out this fun Fall project with shiny Gold Leaves!! I’m in love!!
What are your favorite Fall activities? Or do you have any specific Thanksgiving traditions that help you celebrate the season!?
