Playdough cupcakes

The Joyful Household has been struck down with the flu for a second time this winter - I mean, can you *handle* it!!?? I hardly ever get sick, and now I'm in for round number TWO!! Oi. The little ones seem to have caught the somewhat milder version, though, for which I'm grateful - I can handle my own misery, but it breaks my heart when my smoochies suffer.

Anyway, on to more pleasant things: We mustered up all the energy we could and decided to make some lovely home-made play dough today. I LOVE this recipe by Laura from My Montessori Journey  - it is one of those 'can't fail' numbers that has earned itself  an honorary place in my recipe file!

I had seen the inspiration for this little bit of  play time fun on The Imagination Tree last week, and I just knew Sweetpea would enjoy it. To add to the whole 'baking' experience, I scented the playdough: The yellow smells like vanilla, and half of the red dough is scented with cinnamon - Delicious, Darling!! The other half was peppered with silver glitter, and oh boy, did little miss Sweetpea enjoy that!

In my *very biased* opinion those chubby little-girl fingers are even sweeter than the cupcake they are decorating!

Mama joined in and got alittle carried away...I adore play dough - such a forgiving medium, you know!

Sweetpea adored that mini layer cake  - she decorated it after I had formed the two layers and circle of frosting, and then walked around with it for the rest of the morning, sniffing and..yes, lincking...it until I said we had to clean up for lunch. She nearly cried when we had to dissemble the cupcakes and I insisted she threw away the bit that was licked! And on that note, here is a nice little tip on play dough hygiene I also picked up from Laura at My Montessori Journey: Before your bambinos dive in for some play dough fun, teach them to always clean their hands with a waterless hand sanitizer first. This is an especially good idea for play groups and pre-schools, but we use it here at home, too.