Projects and Patience

Last week we had several rainy days, which meant projects were on the agenda.

First we made "Baked Cotton Balls." (Again from this website.)

Supplies:
Cotton Balls
Flour (1 cup)
Water (1 cup)
Food Coloring

First I mixed together the flour and water. Then, I separated the mixture into several bowls so that I could make different colors. I chose to do 4 colors.


I set Carver up at the table with the cotton balls, colored flour mixture, and a baking sheet.


Carver dipped each cotton ball into the flour mixture and then placed them on a greased baking sheet. I had to help get the cotton balls completely covered, and keep him from grabbing handfuls of cotton balls and stuffing them all at once into the balls. Overall, he did great!


He also wanted to dip a cotton ball into one color and then transfer that cotton ball to another color. . . I had to stop him. It was too much. The colors should stay separate. My OCD couldn't take it.

Then we baked the cotton balls for about 1 hour. When they came out they were hard and crunchy on the outside-- much like rocks. Next time I will probably get the jumbo cotton balls, but otherwise I wouldn't change anything about this activity.


Several days later we took them outside to crush them in the driveway. Carver used a hammer/mallet/tool type thing to break them open to get to the soft cottony inside. He liked stepping on them too. He wasn't as interested in crushing the balls as I thought he would be-- he lost interest after about 3 minutes. But, you can't win them all. The actual making of the cotton balls he loved.


Our second project of the week was "Cloud Dough." (Find it here.)

This project was a little rocky from the start.

First, Carver caught me setting up for it and then was extremely impatient to get started. Super annoying. We were about to forget the whole thing. . .



But, I continued to gather all of the supplies:

Flour (8 cups)
Baby Oil (1 cup)
Tub or some sort of bowl to play with it in.
Miscellaneous kitchen gadgets and toys.

I laid towels down in the kitchen to cut down on the mess (which was an extreme waste of time-- see below).

Then I laid out cups, spoons, etc. for him to use to play in the cloud dough.


At first, he was really calm about the whole thing. Dipping out small amounts of the dough, not really using his hands. I did show him how to make a ball out of it, which he found a little amusing, but he mostly wanted to use the scoops to dip it out.



He kept spilling it all over himself and I probably said "Keep it in the bowl" 800 times. Finally, with my patience about at its end I opted to leave the room, not worry about the little spills, and just let him enjoy it.


He was too quiet. Far too quiet.

Three minutes later I returned to this. . .




The problem was not so much the mess, but rather how hard it was to clean up. The mixture was completely embedded in the tile grout and would not vacuum up. The baby oil made the floor slick so I had to mop also. The mixture was embedded in his clothes too and even after washing they feel a little crunchy. (This is why I swear by making a distinction between play clothes and "real" clothes-- I promise I dress Carver better than it normally appears on this blog.)

Overall, I would still say cloud dough was a success because he seriously loved it and it entertained him for close to an hour. But, I really don't have the patience for this. Watching the mess get bigger and bigger made my blood pressure elevate and it was a struggle to not be annoyed and irritated with him. I think I held it together reasonably well, but we will definitely do this outside when/if we repeat this particular activity.

In unrelated news. . . here is a picture of Carver watching the beginning of the tacky/trashy cheerleader movie, Bring it On. The first couple of minutes are recorded at the end of Cars (movie) that we taped awhile back.


Clearly, he loves it. It's a little disturbing.