Dinosaurs in sticky mud

I have been a long-time admirer of Asia Citro’s blog Fun at Home With Kids. Her craft and play recipes are quirky, creative and always have me clicking through to the blog to read more about them. When I was asked to review her new book 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids I jumped at the chance, and I am so glad I did. When the book arrived in the mail the other day the girls were immediately flipping through it and wanting to do lots of the activities, and it comes to us just as a large block of summer school holidays looms closer and closer, so holiday boredom is now already sorted for my two girls.

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Miss R happened to be busy at school, so miss K got to choose the first activity we tried. She was particularly drawn to the small world play set-ups, and loved the idea of making a pretty frog pond, but in the end  she couldn’t go past the Dinosaurs in Sticky Mud – this stuff is fun!

Miss K helped me put the small world together. You can find full instructions on how to make it along with the recipe for the sticky mud in Asia’s new book, available here (amazon link, find links to other options for different countries at the end of the post).

We modified the ingredients slightly based on what we had in the pantry, and our variation of the mud is chocolate-scented because we added cocoa. Miss K is a HUGE fan of any form of messy play and can always be counted on to get right into it – she couldn’t wait to get her hands into this gooey, oozey sticky mud! Seeing it was a warm day we put the small world outside on the grass in the shade for her to enjoy. Here are a few pictures of just how much fun Miss K had playing with the small world and sticky mud…

Messy play is there to get messy, and Miss K doesn’t disappoint. After the dinosaurs had finished their turn in the sticky mud Miss K’s feet went in and she had a good stomp in it, and after that she happily hosed herself off, clothes and all. What could be more fun than spending an hour squishing, squelching and playing in chocolate-scented mud?

We have lots more activities earmarked from this book. Miss R keeps asking me when we can make the crystallising watercolours, and miss K keeps on sneaking the book into her room to look through it again.

You can find this book here:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Book Depository (free International Shipping)
Fishpond AU

For tons more messy and sensory play ideas visit my  messy fun board on Pinterest.