My youngest son adores playdough! Can’t say I blame him…it’s squishy, colorful, smells nice, and allows him to be abundantly creative. Last weekend we took the box of Christmas cookie cutters out of the basement and played together for hours. I told him, “I’m going to make an ugly Christmas sweater!”
“What’s that?”
“Well, it’s an ugly sweater that people like to laugh about at Christmastime.” So I made one—complete with candy canes, a tree, and holiday lights.
“Mommy! That’s not ugly! It’s so beautiful.”
“It’s supposed to be ugly!”
“You shouldn’t call your artwork ugly, Mommy.”
He totally wasn’t getting it. (LOVE the little self-esteem lesson he threw in, though! Someone is actually listening to me in this house!)
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Ugly Christmas Sweaters
I pulled out my phone and searched for a more convincing display of holiday tackiness. “Look, sweetheart. These are ugly Christmas sweaters. People like to have contests to see who can wear the ugliest sweater! They win prizes…it’s like a game.”
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“Let’s do a contest!”
His little hands reached for the bright orange playdough and he went to work. “Mine is going to be the ugliest!”
Atta boy! He finally understood!
We rolled and shaped, then paraded our playdough sweaters into the other room where my husband was working.
“Daddy, you are the judge! Is my sweater uglier than Mommy’s?”
“It’s an ugly Christmas sweater contest.” I added.
“Your sweater is the ugliest, dude. You win.”
My little one cheered, high-fived his Dad, then went back to the kitchen to continue playing.
I will get you next year, buddy! Next year…
Ugly Christmas Sweater Playdough
Shared below is our favorite playdough recipe. Click HERE to see all of our playdough activities for kids!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup bleached flour
- 1 cup warm water
- ½ cup salt
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
- gel food coloring (omit for white playdough)
Directions:
- Mix the ingredients together in a pot.
- Stir the playdough mixture over medium heat until it clumps into a ball.
- Remove the playdough from the pot. Cool, then knead until smooth.
- Repeat to make more colors!
- Use a rolling-pin to roll out the playdough, cut with a sweater cookie cutter, then decorate!
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