8.11.2009

Play-Doh, you have done me wrong.

I remember playing with Play-Doh when I was little. I had a few cans. I tried to mold something. I wasn't very good at it. I didn't have the fun factory or anything. No barber shops. No restaurant sets. I didn't want the colors to mix. But I loved it.

So when I had kids I thought of all the fun we'd have with Play-Doh. We'd have the fun factory, yes we would. They would sit quietly for hours and play elaborate Play-Doh schemes. We'd play all the time.

* ahem *

I hate Play-Doh. The girls have the fun factory. They have Dora adventure sets. They have a craft kit. But never fail -- NEVER FAIL -- every single time we take out the Play-Doh, instead of molding it into something or using the numerous accessories, they just pull it apart into tiny bits. Tiny, tiny bits. Which end up all over the floor. And all over the table. They make lines of tiny bits. And hills of tiny bits. And families of tiny bits. And it takes forever to clean it all up in a manner in which it will not be spread tiny bit by tiny bit all over the floor in the house.

They've been asking for Play-Doh again. So I pulled it out today. "If you play Play-Doh, will you tear it into tiny bits?" No, Mommy! "Will you play with it without making tiny pieces?" Yes, Mommy! And the sun sparkled off of their halos.

Ha. HA!!

I went downstairs to call our clinic for Natalie's immunization records for school. Went back up stairs. Anyone wanna guess? Bueller?

Yeah. Good call. Tiny bits of Play-Doh. All over the floor. The counter. Do you know how fast Play-Doh dries out when you make tiny bits all the time? Pretty fast, FYI. I just spent a half hour reconstituting Play-Doh. Play-Doh which is all a strange shade of green/blue.

Play-Doh? The dream of you, and the reality of you are vastly different things.

4 comments:

Libby Design said...

I share your HATE for play-doh. And how perfect that our four-legged addition to the family thinks the tiny little pieces all over the floor are treats...makes for some rather colorful "poop pickup" in the yard. Definitely a lot easier to see when there's a big 'ol neon green chunk of play-doh in the pile. :D That's the only positive I've seen lately in play-doh.

gretchen said...

I hate it too! And I'd done pretty well with avoiding it (or making it an outdoor only activity) until last year when Jude's teacher suggested it to help improve his pitiful (well,typical boy) fine motor skills. Arrgh! He'd open up every single can, create the tiny bits you mention, then mush all the bits together, thus mixing all the colors into a disaster. I always had to throw it all out!

April said...

Personally, my favorite was the the kids putting playdough (I assume it was CHar) into all the holes in all of our VHS tapes. Lots of fun digging that out! I'm with you; kids love it, parents hate it.

Laura said...

my brother put play-doh in his ears and up is nose. after weeks we noticed an odor...

my kids have no respect for the colors. Within seconds, we have brown. No more red. No more green. No more yellow. Just a clump of brown.

But I have to admit...I love the smell...not sure the smell is worth it. Certainly there is something else around the house I can sniff...now, where is that glue????