As of today we are 3/5 of the way through our 50 day challenge, my aim to complete 50 activities with isabelle between September and Christmas 2014.Things have been a bit quiet this week so far, as I am currently off work and not in the best shape at all. You'd think being off would give me more time to play with Isabelle, but she has still spent half a day with her grandparents so I can catch up on some rest and try to recuperate a little. Today, however, since it was wet outside I decided that when I picked her up we would dive into an activity I've been waiting to do for ages - 'clean mud'.
The mud is actually a mash of soap, water and toilet paper all mixed together to give a soapy papier mache type material. It is squidy, soft and mouldable which makes it a great sensory activity, but since it is absolutely clean it doesn't create a huge mess.
To make our mud I used:
* 1 bar cheap value soap
* 1 roll toilet paper
* 2 cups boiling water
The mud is largely very straight forward to make. I grated the soap into our tray, while Isabelle got busy ripping up the toilet paper. She had loads of fun doing that, and enjoyed being allowed to tear paper up and throw it about the room, and kept shouting "Oops! Dropped a piece!" and then throwing more on top! The ripping of the toilet paper would have made a great activity all on it's own, to be honest. It was great for working her fine and gross motor skills, and teaching her about how much force was necessary to rip the paper. We also talked a lot about big pieces and tiny pieces, as she had a tendency to get over excited and throw the whole roll onto the tuff spot!
Once that was done, she decided to have a nap and I used that time to add the boiling water to the soap. To make sure it melted as much as possible, I mixed the water and soap together for a while until it was totally melted, then added the toilet paper scraps on top. I mixed with a whisk, which older children might like to help with, but the mixture does stay very warm so care is needed. I kept adding toilet paper until I got the 'right' consistency. To me, that means no water was visible in the tray, and when I squeezed the mixture, it didn't drip and was mouldable. Once that was done, I left it in the tray and added a huge sprinkling of glitter on top for when Isabelle woke up.
When she did, after a quick snack, we played. Mostly, Isabelle liked to whisk and mash the mixture with the potato masher. I tipped the mud from the tray into the tuff spot to give us more space, and I was impressed that she didn't seem to mind getting it on her feet. As I've said before, she is a bit unsure of new textures, and this was no exception. She did touch it and pick it up several times, but overall she preferred to use her tools to work the mud rather than her hands. I made balls, and showed her how to splat them, and we talked about big and tiny, and she mashed and mashed, all the time shouting "Mash! Mash! Mash!" Her arm muscles certainly got a great workout, and I know who will be employed for the next round of mashed potato we eat.
We played for a while, but I have to say neither of us really had our heart in it. I was totally exhausted after about 15 minutes (must have been all the whisking while she was asleep) and she wasn't having the best afternoon, so we sat down to read together instead.
Definitely not our most successful activity to date, but something I am glad we did anyway, and maybe when we are both feeling a bit perkier we will have another go. I have to say, the one thing I dislike about this activity is that it feels very wasteful of toilet paper. I used a whole roll, and it didn't make that much mud. At the end, the mud went in the bin, so to me it did feel a little bit wasteful, which doesn't sit comfortably with me at all. Maybe in future we should stick to some of our recycled, or reusable, materials instead.
