Sensory activities are always a huge hit around here. My son loves exploring , squishing and the pretend play that always seems to accompany play dough play. Adding scents to your play dough simply makes something every day a little more novel and exciting.He played with this play dough forever. I originally only gave him half of each scent/color so we’d have some reserved for later, but then gave in. He was pretending to make and ice a cake on his own youtube video. It was hilarious and  great pretend play.

1. Gather your materials.  Today we made Bisquick Playdough ( click  for the recipe) , I like this one because the playdough is very white and is easy to color. To make the play dough scented we used flavorings ( Banana, Strawberry and Cherry) and food coloring.  You can also use Kool-aid.  Also grab a few zip locks for adding the flavor and color to avoid stained hands.
2. After kneading the dough per the recipe , separate the dough into one bag per scent/color.
3. Add the coloring , close the bag and have your helper come help. He mixed it some but I did the majority of mixing, it takes some time.
4. Chill the dough until cold. This makes it less sticky.
5. Gather some fun tools to play with – I love cookie cutters and popscicle sticks.
6. Smell see if your child can identify the scents.
7. Play!
8. One big happy smelly mess .

Books About Fruit

Raisin and Grape by Tom Amico and James Priomos is a hilarious and sweet book more about grandpas and grandsons then about grapes and raisins. The dry sarcastic humor will keep parents happy ( or if you aren’t into that you’ll hate the book) while the funky illustrations and simple text will keep your little ones interested. This is a great book for older children to read to younger siblings, the text is easy enough for novice readers and they will think it’s funny, especially the part about armpits! My son is so into his grandpas right now that this was a huge hit and I love that it can also be used to explain that raisins are dried grapes. Grab this , sit down with some grapes and have fun!

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert is an alphabet book extraordinaire! Wonderful paintings of fruits and vegetables seem ultra simple and it is but somehow the way the author has pieced this simple book together is brilliant. Maybe it’s that children learn about food at the table multiple times a day and feel proud being able to identify not only some of the letters but some of the pictures too! From a teaching standpoint I love that there are both upper and lower case letters on each page! This book will grow with your child, and beware it will also make you
hungry!

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Ron Wood is a fantastic book that children adore! The story not only unique in that the narrator speaks directly to the mouse , it’s illustrations will enchant your child’s imagination and make the most overtired parent smile. The little mouse is trying to keep the strawberry away from the bear, and his adorable attempts to hide it make my son laugh every time! Great book!