A Review of MotherCould Activities

Asher really enjoyed this activity. It definitely reminds me of slime, but it honestly reminds me more of a more stable ooblek. I decided to make 2 colors, I just split the recipe in half. Asher really enjoyed mixing them together. If you make 2 colors, pick colors that will mix well. These turned a nice purple. Honestly I also really enjoyed playing with this. It did stain our hands when we played with it, but for me it is not a big deal.

• 1. Difficulty and time: I give this a 3, mostly because of the time. You have to soak the chia seeds over night.
• 2. Mess and cleanup: Also a 3. I obviously stripped Asher down to a diaper to avoid ruining his clothes, a smock would also be good. I put a silicon baking mat underneath which helped with cleanup, but it did get all over the floor. It sticks to itself, so cleanup isn’t hard. When it dries it is easy to vacuum.
• 3. Asher’s entertainment: 5! Asher loved this! Played for at least 45 minutes. He also loved helping make it.
• 4. Multiple use: 4. This can be stored in the fridge. It gets hard, but you just add about a tablespoon of water and mix it back up. We have played with it 3 times so far.

What attracted me to this is that MotherCould compares this to waterbeads, but they really are not similar. Basically you are making Jello and cutting it into blocks. She uses clear gelatin, but if you wanted to just make Jello you could. The benefit to the gelatin is that it is edible, but not delicious or sticky. If you watch the video she uses 2 packages of gelatin, which she doesn’t specify in the recipe. If you buy a bulk gelatin like I did, a package of gelatin has about 2.5 tsp in it. The recipe is intended to go into a pretty small container to make them more block like. I used a 9×9 pan and they were pretty flat. So you might consider doubling. She also makes her’s in a rainbow, but in real life, no ones got time for that.

1. Difficulty and time: I give this a 3, This requires at least 3-4 hours of time to set up. You also have to use boiling water which is a little bit of a hazard if your little one likes to help.
2. Mess and cleanup: Also a 3. Again, I stripped Asher down to avoid staining. I bought one of those disposable roast pans, which honestly contained this pretty well. This also got all over the floor which was kind of a pain to clean up.
3. Asher’s entertainment: 4. Asher did enjoy this for about 30 minutes. He liked it most once he had some scoops and toys to play with in it.
4. Multiple use: 1. This is a one time activity

This was by far Asher’s favorite thing we did. Setting it up felt like I was probably teaching him some bad behavior. In fact that last photo looks like a toddler caught in the act of “being to quiet” I couldn’t find an actual recipe for this but if you watch the video she basically fills up the muffin tin with shaving cream, a few pumps of baby soap, and food coloring.

1. Difficulty and time: 5! Took less than 10 minutes to set up.
2. Mess and cleanup: I give this a 4! Obviously it is messy, but because it is in the shower it is so easy to clean up. I quickly sprayed down the walls and it was gone! At the end I gave Asher a little bowl and a sponge and he enjoyed cleaning up too! A 2 for 1 activity!
3. Asher’s entertainment: 5!!! Asher absolutely loved this! He keeps asking to paint in the shower.
4. Multiple use: 1. This is a one time activity

I have to start by saying I 100% did this wrong. I just watched the video quickly and thought she’d added water, when in reality it is vinegar. I still got a good result, but they took a long time to dry and they stuck together. Also because I order my groceries, I did not get the kind of pasta I wanted. These work fine, but Asher really wanted to eat them. I think a larger pasta would be less eatable. I did go for the full rainbow with this because it was really simple to do. To be more environmentally conscious I used Tupperware to shake these up in rather than ziplock bags.

1. Difficulty and time: 4, these did take about 24 hours to dry, could have been my fault with the water. It was VERY easy to do though.
2. Mess and cleanup: I give this a 4. Asher did dump them all over the floor, but they were quickly vacuumed up.
3. Asher’s entertainment: 3.5. Asher did enjoy these, but it didn’t hold his attention in quite the same way as the other activities.
4. Multiple use: 5! These could be used an endless amount of times!