The other day my four year old twins wanted to play with playdough, so I set them up in the backyard with the dough and things to play with the dough, cutters and rollling pins and so on.

One of my girls decided not to play with the cutters and rolled up balls of playdough, she got bits of plants and put them in the balls of playdough. This creation was called a gum tree. I know it was not a gum tree but it was very clever none the less

So if you would like to do this to keep your kids entertained this is what you need to do.

1. Have playdough, it is so easy to make your own and you can create any colours – You can find a great recipe from Mckenzie’s Foods, I think the magic ingredient is their Cream of Tartar. Adding Cream of Tartar seems to make the playdough nice soft and gives it a great texture, try it you will see the difference.

2. Once you have the playdough give to kids to create balls to place things in it to resemble trees or flowers.

3. Kids can pick things from the yard, flowers, weeds, or leaves to stick in the playhouse.

4. Imagination is key, anything is possible. How about getting sticks, glitter, or anything that you think would work will add magic to the playdough gum trees.

Now leave the kids to create a forest with their new weird and wonderful trees and flowers. Why not keep your creations and play with them to create a town or even as gifts. This creative task had the twins busy for hours. I managed to get a bit done in the house and I was happy as well as the girls so a win win.

What creative thing do your kids create with playdough? 

Suzanne Robinson is an ex career girl (well still a career girl, but not in the office and getting paid). She has worked for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), News Ltd.’s, CareerOne.com.au as a producer and lots more.

She is a mother to four year old identical twin girls, who keep her very busy. On top of looking after the girls, she is studying for a master’s degree in project management, blogging on her blog “Mummy to Twins”, attempting to keep the house clean and tidy, and trying to fit in some me time as well.