CLEVELAND — Every kid loves dough. They love rolling it out, squishing it together and sticking other toys in it. But… I’m a mom who avoids Play-Doh at all costs. ALL costs. It’s inevitable that the bright-colored dough will end up smashed into my carpet.
My 4 year old had a Zoom preschool session that taught them about phases of the moon and gave them a recipe for “Moon Dough.” She was so attentive and interested in the dough, I figured I’d give it a try.
When I saw the ingredients, they didn’t seem as destructive. It’s just flour and oil. And for the brave, a little bit of food coloring. I’ve also seen recipes using hair conditioner and cornstarch.
The recipe the teacher gave us was four cups of flour to a half cup of baby oil or vegetable oil. We opted out of the food coloring. I told the girls it was because I wanted the dough to look more like the moon, but really I didn’t want to risk a "Play-Doh incident."
When we mixed it up, my concoction was a little chunky. I added oil until I could roll the mixture up into a ball that stuck together.
Once it was made, I had the girls find three things around the house that would leave “footprints” in the dough. We talked about how astronauts walked on the moon and it was dusty, kind of like how the moon dough feels. We talked about how the moon has craters and how other rocks that slammed into the moon most likely created those craters.
Even beyond the lesson, they LOVED just sitting at the counter playing with the dough.
And – the good news – none of it ended up in my carpet.
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