DIY: Play Dough – Lesson Plans

My play dough making days have taught me three things:
-I don’t like the cooked kind. I always burn it or it burns me.
-No recipe calls for enough flour. Why is that?
-Things that are going to be ruined by children should not call for weird/expensive ingredients

Couldn’t find a recipe that fit my requirements, so I invented my own. Makes great mold-able play dough (apparently also fun to eat-why child, why???) that lasts for quite a long time, especially when kept primarily in the fridge. And the best part is that it is made up completely of items already found in your kitchen (alum? really?!? who has that just lying around?).

The BEST Play Dough

Ingredients:
1/4 cup salt
1 1/4 cup flour (amount of flour may vary slightly depending on altitude)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 T vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
food coloring

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside

Boil water in microwave. Remove from microwave once it has started to boil (I realize you guys aren’t idiots, I just wanted to be clear). Add baking soda, vegetable oil and food coloring to water. I am generous with the food coloring. I like the colors to be dark. Let the water cool down enough that you can touch it. If you don’t let it cool, your play dough will end up grainy-believe me.

Add the water mixture to the flour and salt combination. Stir/knead adding more flour as needed until it isn’t sticking to your hands anymore. Let the dough cool completely. Play time!

Store in Tupperware or be eco friendly and store in old cottage cheese/sour cream containers. Lasts longer in refrigerator.

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Activities and Ideas for the 100th Day of School

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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