Play Dough Pasta Bugs

We're keeping things simple this summer at Seedlings, so posts have been a bit sporadic, but I thought it was time to check-in.  

As I mentioned a while back, we've decided to adopt a grain-free diet due to some digestive issues Monkey was having.  I'd intended for this change to be temporary, but we're all feeling so much better, I don't see an end anytime soon.  The decision to continue on this new dietary adventure was even easier to make after two consecutive nights of grain/gluten ingestion on my part left me with two consecutive nights of belly-ache.  No thanks!

So, what to do with all that pasta?  Use it for preschool, of course!!

Monkey was getting a bit stir-crazy this past week after temperatures reached 108F and he wasn't able to get in his usual few hours of outside time each day, so play dough was the first thing that came to mind.

I cooked up a pot of fresh dough, throwing in some lavender essential oil for good measure, set out bowls of pasta: spaghetti, rotini and elbow macaroni and the little ones got to work.

The spaghetti was by far the most popular pasta to work with and even though there was quite a lot of pasta-breakage, the children never got frustrated, they were enamored with this new sensory material.

And, as is the way with play dough, someone always makes a pancake:

But Monkey decided he was making a bug and here is the finished product:

How'd you like to find this guy in your house??

I hope to gather some material to share on our upcoming vacation to the beach!  What are you and your little ones up to this summer??