My two year old son usually goes to day care in the mornings while I get some work done in the office. However, this past week it has been "school holidays", so I took some time off to spend with him. I had pictured sunny mornings around the pool, walks around the park and ice cream treats (since it is spring time here in the Southern Hemisphere), but alas, we got rained in almost the entire week! So I needed to a lot of brainstorming and Google searching on what fun activities I could rustle up to keep my little one busy (instead of bouncing off the walls)!

I came up with quite a few things that were really a hit, but the one extremely simple activity that my son thoroughly enjoyed and keeps asking to do again was making and playing with "Ghost Mud", which in essence has almost the same consistency and feeling of playdough once made. Anyway, I though I would share the idea here on Steemit with you, it's fun to do at home with the kids or if you are a teacher, you could make it a class activity (add some science to it)!

Image Source

How To Make Ghost Mud 

Firstly, let me say that this is not a fun activity, but quite educational one too, in that it offers the opportunity for sensory play. It ignites and allows the little ones to explore the senses of touch, sight, smell, hearing (and umm, taste too if your toddler is as daring as mine).

So here's what you will need to prepare for the gig:

• 1 roll of toilet paper (1 ply)
• A bar of Ivory or Dove soap
• 1 cup of warm water
• An eager toddler!

Instructions:

1. Get your kid/s to remove the toilet paper from its roll. I think this part might be more fun than the activity itself and can take up a good amount of time!
2. Once all of the toilet paper has been removed, gather it all up and place it into a large container or basin (you could even make it in the bath)!
3. If you have older kids, let them grate up the soap, or grate the soap yourself before hand. Another alternative here is to mix this activity with the Soap Explosion experiment. 
4. Add your soap to your cup of very warm water, do the in a separate bowel to your basin for now.
5. Give it a mix until it gets mushy and squishy.
6. Pour it into the bin with the toilet paper and start kneading and mushing the ingredients together until a smooth dough-like substance forms - this might take quite a few minutes and is a bit of hard work, but the kids enjoy it! Let them squelch it in their finger to hear the funny sounds it makes.
7. Add some more water if you think the consistency is too dry!
8. The end result will be a smooth, pulpy and somewhat slimy creation!

Image Credits

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: https://happyhooligans.ca/ghost-mud-ice-cream/

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, and guess what! We are heading into October, the month of ghosts ghouls! This activity is an ideal opportunity to do something that incorporates a Halloween-like theme...I dare you!

Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone

Much love - @sweetpea

<

em>(bringing you original content)