Moon Dough

So we got some of this stuff for Christmas. After experimenting with it for a few minutes, I was pretty much stumped as to how I was going to put it to any good use with my kids. I had come to the same conclusion as this reviewer did: Moon Dough Review, and I was ready to chuck it. Today, though, I found a use for moon dough that I am happy to report.

Today was one of those hectic days that all mothers know and love. They come around every so often, usually on the same day in which you got about an hour's sleep - in total - from the night before. I was tired and not feeling up to the usual amount of energy it takes to bring about a successful preschool learning moment. In fact, I was considering NOT doing a preschool activity today because I was feeling the NEED to clean the kitchen, and bathrooms, and vacuum, and the eternal laundry mountain, and etc. I needed something that would engage the kids with minimal supervision. The insane mom voice inside me said, "Why not give them that obnoxious mood dough stuff and let them make a huge mess of it on the floor since you have to vacuum that floor today anyway." And I gave into this insane voice. I gave my kids the moon dough, accompanied by rolling pins, cookie cutters, cookie sheets, mixing bowls, measuring cups and the whole nine yards. I figured since it's called "dough," we might as well play with it like it's dough.


Well, the report is that the kids had the blast of their lives.  Moon dough actually acts just like cookie dough and will roll out and cut into shapes just like real cookies.  It can also be measured and mixed up rather realistically. My boys spent over an hour, on their own, making a grandiose mess all over my floor; baking up moon dough in their little play kitchen, carrying around lumps of moon dough cookies, cutting up moon dough cakes and pies and smearing it all from one end of my hard wood floor to the other. But I just smiled at their revelry.

The insane voice said, "don't worry about it--you can just vacuum it all up when they're done--and just look how happy they are!" And guess what, the insane voice was right. When the boys were exhausted of moon dough cooking, I pulled out my trusty vacuum and cleaned up that mess in a jiff. Seriously, a jiff. It really was no big deal. So I guess the insane voice isn't all that insane--not today at least.

Moral of the story: if you have moon dough you don't know what to do with and an easily vacuum-able floor that needs vacuuming-you could have a moon dough cooking hey day just like us.

P.S. here's the secret that's the best part: when you're done vacuuming it all up--the moon dough is ALL GONE and you never have to worry about it again.