Whilst finally (oh how The Husband rejoiced) sorting through The Craft Cupboard of Doom, dodging things falling on my head and toes and narrowly avoiding a glitter explosion I decided to pack up all the odds and ends of good intentions that never actually happened and donate them to Nursery where they'll actually be used. Among the debris I found some left over fake snow powder I purchased from the pound shop at Christmas for one doomed project or another. It's marvellous stuff you get some of the powder, add some water and voila....you have well....snow. Of a sort. I'll admit this random genius insanity wasn't entirely born of my own mind, on a Nursery visit, they'd filled a large messy play tray with similar stuff and The Preschooler was itching to investigate.
Seeing as I had nothing remotely appropriate to dispense it into I enrolled the help of a roasting tin, added snow and plonked it on a towel in the lounge seeing as it's considerably warmer than the kitchen and it boasts the comforts of a sofa, laptop and TV for when I'm being boring and not joining in. The Preschooler looked at me rather suspiciously and I can't honestly say I blame him. However, curiosity of 'what the hell is mum doing now?' won over Ben 10 as he watched guardedly when I stalked towards his dinosaur and people drawer and dumped that next to him too. I filled the stunned silence with a brief explanation that I thought the dinosaurs may want to play in the snow.
Oh how they did indeed. I've not seen The Preschooler so engrossed in something sensory for as long
as I can remember. Once all the dinosaurs were thoroughly exhausted from fraternising in the snow scene turned into Pontypandy and the adventures of the naughty penguin. This basically involved a naughty penguin who insisted on burying all the residents of Pontypandy alive, in the snow, then jumping on their faces for good measure. That is until the rescue helicopter arrived to attempt a rescue. Even Bob and friends joined in with a cameo appearance from Dora.Thing Two was terribly annoyed that when she came home from school, all that was left was a baking tray of slush.
The Preschooler has been begging for more snow ever since yet it was only an appealing purchase in the first place due to the price. Looks like I'll have to be researching the cost of it in bulk.
It's not often we do this kind of thing yet be it shaving foam play, cloud dough or rainbow price it strikes me that there is something blatantly missing each time that would make these things so much more durable and accessible, especially when Thing Two wants in on the action too and that would be a large messy play tray such as this. However like most things that would necessitate the expenditure of money, an activity I rather enjoy partaking in however, lack of funds (as always) prohibits this.
The only downside of this little triste with mess was, predictably, the clean up. When the snow becomes slush, it's near gelatinous and clings to the toys. They don't just need wiping they need a proper good wash, behind Norman Prices ears and everything. If you try a simple dunk and dry you'll find a gooey substance clinging to the surface of the water and attempting to devour your hands.