Mad Science Monday, Pesach Edition: Digging in the Desert STEM Challenge

 The days preceding Pesach are a time of cleaning out cupboards, kitchens, refrigerators and freezers in many Jewish homes around the world. My boys have eaten more cereal and french fries in the past week than they have over the course of the entire year! They are quite pleased with this. I have such a pet peeve for food waste and it is painful to just "throw things out" that we won't use. I did, admittedly, throw out the boys' snow balls that I rediscovered in the back of the freezer from January! And while many are hesitant toward using food products in play for a variety of personal, cultural and/or allergy reasons, I think there are times when a shot at life in a sensory table is better than a shot across the room into the trash barrel. So the good news? We used up the flour and the bottle of baby oil that had been in our medicine cabinet since Y was born so I could get the sticky goo off my skin from the bandage over my c-Section wound! And, we made our own sand dough. 
I would admonish that this is a messy activity more suited for outdoor use (which is what we did) or indoor use when you are not trying to clean your homes of chametz before Pesach. The recipe for sand dough is incredibly simple:

Ingredients:
8 cups all purpose flour
1 cup baby oil

I will say that I did not measure my ingredients at all even given the ratio of the original recipe. I honestly just dumped 2 opened bags of flour into our sensory table bin and subsequently emptied the remaining contents of the bottle of baby oil we had. On its own, the dough was a bit crumbly and powdery but when squeezed between the hands or molded into ice cube trays, cups and even mega blocks, it held together to make shapes and bricks that the boys could use to build.

It is perfect for sand castles, igloos and even pyramids. Why, oh why, do we still teach our children that the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt were forced to build the pyramids?! Oh gosh, I don't know. Historical timelines show this to be impossible and the liturgy itself states that the Jewish people were building warehouses for Pharoah, not pyramids. Nonetheless, pyramid building brings forth a fascinating geometrical and engineering challenge for little ones and so we continue...

S and Y were so excited to get outside and dig in our desert! They have grown accustomed to a new routine of waking up from afternoon rest time, eating a quick dinner and bolting out the front or back door. They both ran right over to the sensory table and began to dig, fill, shape and mold the dough. I set up the bin quite simply at first, with just a couple of shovels, ice cube trays, some mega blocks and a little fisher price construction worker. We have added some less played with toys from indoors into our backyard setup so that they can take on new life and function while I try to function at keeping our garden alive this season. The boys LOVE using mega blocks, construction trucks, dinosaurs and little people outside now! And they had just as much fun using them in our sand dough table as well.

I overheard S singing a popular Pesach children's song as he played:
Dig, dig, dig, dig your shovel deep
Dig, dig, dig, there's no time for sleep
For it's work, work, work,
Every day and every night
For it's work, work, work
When it's dark and when it's light.

He added that he was very "happy to be working." And then he took to calling me Pharoah instead of Mommy. I'm taking this as an overall compliment, I think...

This was such a fun activity that since the weather was predicted to remain dry, I decided to cover our sensory bin with a trash bag overnight and leave it for the boys to play with again.

Getting outside is such a natural way to incorporate science into your play and learning routine. STEM challenges, sensory play and nature exploration in and of itself all promote skills in engineering, observation, experimentation and critical thinking. The boys? Well, they mostly think they're playing and they are having a great time! So whether you are looking to empty those last bags of flour (and I'm banking that you could probably also use another type of oil) or whether you will save this one in the vault for after Pesach and build a backyard beach and sand castle, homemade sand dough is an easy and cost effective way to build, learn and play before Pesach and all year round!

Happy Working Playing!