Organizing Play-Doh: An Interview with a 4 Year Old

It feels like on the very day that my daughter turned three years old she became obsessed with Play-Doh.  It is one of the few activities that would keep her entertained for more than 5 minutes.  Which means that Play-Doh is my favorite invention in the whole wide world.  The only down side is the clean up.  There are so many Play-Doh accessories and tools that I noticed we ended up playing with the Play-Doh less often because of the time required to clean up afterwards.  We were always losing accessories, finding little Play-Doh balls on the floor or in our dog's mouth.  And of course the most common problem of all; lidless, dried out Play-Doh that went straight into the trash.

A couple months back we were visiting our cousins at their home.  They have a very nice house and two toddlers that are very close in age.  I assumed this would result in a completely chaotic house but their playroom was very well organized with bins and containers for everything.  They even have a small table with the main purpose of using for playing with Play-Doh.  I love it!  Having a Play-Doh station in the play area would help avoid the hassle of finding Play-Doh all over the house and having to lug everything down from the closet to the dining room table each time my daughter wants to play.  But I still needed to figure out how to keep all the parts in one place.  Sounds like a job for a organizing container!!

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of being wasteful; with things and with money.  I like to try to find organizing solutions within my house before going out to the store.  Though I do love having an excuse to go to Home Goods.  I took a quick look around my house and was able to find a small three drawer organizer. 

The tools and accessories go in the top drawer, the mini and regular sized Play-Doh containers go in the middle drawer and the extra large containers go in the bottom drawer, laying down.  We mostly have mini and regular sized containers and I'm able to fit A LOT of Play-Doh in those drawers.  You can absolutely use a container that has deeper drawers so the larger containers can fit standing up but this container was already something we owned and does the job perfectly.

Now, as I write this post, my daughter keeps telling me that she wants to help me "text" (her generation's word for type).  Ever since I found her in my food storage container cabinet "organizing", I've wanted to involve her in the blog in some way so why not now.  I present to you, an interview with a four year old Play-Doh aficionado.

How do we organize Play-Doh?

First we play with it.

Then what happens?

We just put it back in the container and put the top on so it doesn't get old.  We put it in the Play-Doh drawers.

What is your favorite thing to do with Play-Doh?

Cut.  What else?  Scissors.

Why do you love playing with Play-Doh?

I like to play with it and then put it back. (The apple doesn't fall far...)

What is your favorite color of Play-Doh?

Yellow, red, orange, green, and purple.  Not blue?  No.

What does Play-Doh smell like?

Yummy.

Anything else you want to say about Play-Doh?

I worry about the Play-Doh.  Why?  You text, I'm going to go potty.

And there you have it.  Organizing Play-Doh from the perspective of a four year old.  So what is the point my daughter is trying to make? When it comes to toys that have a million pieces and/or are very messy, it helps to have a dedicated area to store the various components of the activity and a dedicated space to play. If your children are like mine, they are like a squirrel storing little pieces of Play-Doh in every nook and cranny they find, to prepare for the long winter ahead.  This way we at least keep the hiding spots to one area of the house and hopefully keep Play-Doh out of our shoes and purse. 

Repurpose Project: Guest Kits

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't like throwing things away.  It isn't just because of sentimental reasons or because I'm afraid I'm going to need it later, which are both factors, but I also grew up with two very eco-consious parents that instilled in a me a hate for waste.

I remember when I was a little kid and I was staying with my dad and my step-mom.  When going to the bathroom, we had a two square maximum on toilet paper that was ruthlessly enforced.  My family also frequently spouted the phrase, "If it's yellow let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." As with most things you find annoying as a child, the toilet paper rule makes much more sense now that I have kids of my own, but at the time I chalked it up to a crazy hippie parent thing. The point being that anytime I can find a way to repurpose something instead of throwing it away, it makes the process of purging that much easier.

Which leads me to my first Repurpose Project; Guest Kits.  I was staying over at my friend's house a couple years back and noticed that she kept the little hotel shampoos, lotions, etc in her bathroom for her guest to use when they come over.  It was such a fantastic idea and I wanted to take it one step further by using my samples, travel products and items you get from a hotel stay in a welcome kit for when guests come to visit.

It is common for people who are pack rats to have a problem saying no to free stuff.  We think that we are going to eventually find a use for every item, even if it is your twelfth branded water bottle or yet another t-shirt from your quarterly company blood drive.  I have a habit of going to those free sampling sites like SampleSource or Target's sampling page and requesting stuff that I probably won't use.  Especially shampoo and conditioner samples.  When I was organizing my bathroom closet the other day (that post to come soon!), I realized that I have about 7 different shampoo samples. I have a dry scalp problem so I can only use specific shampoos but I really didn't want to throw away the samples. When I took a look at all the different sample size and travel size items I have, I realized I had enough to make an entire kit for when friends and family stay over.

There is nothing that drives me more crazy than when I forget to bring soap when I travel and the person I'm staying with only has a bar of soap in the shower.  I don't know what to do with that!  I know soap is self-cleaning but a bar of soap is so...up close and personal.  Unless the person I am staying with says, 'Feel free to use my bar of soap on all your parts and pieces!' I usually end up using shampoo as my body wash.  The obvious fix to this problem would be for me to bring my own soap when I travel but when I travel with my family, I usually remember to pack everything but the stuff in my own bag.  The process of creating a Welcome Kit for your guests is very straight forward but here are a few tips and tricks:

1. Assess your stock: If you already have a stock of travel and sample products then this is just a matter of assembling the items together for one complete Welcome Kit.  Otherwise you can pick up travel size prodcuts in stores like Target, Walmart, CVS, etc.  I'd recommend including a shampoo, conditioner, lotion, deodorant, face wash, body wash and a tooth brush.  
2. Find a container: I was at Michael's the other day and I took a walk down the isle with all the lower priced items like trinkets and small crafts projects for $1-$10.  I found this set of travel pouches and a set of letter stickers from the scrap-booking isle.  

1. His and Hers kits: Most personal care items are gender specific so you can either put together two different kits or one kit with items for both genders in one, if you have the space. 
2. No guests? If you don't have visitors often, you can throw the pre-assembled kit in your bag when traveling and eliminate some of the stress of packing.  

The kits are easy to make, create an opportunity to repurpose items that you have laying around your house and they help make your guests feel at home, in your home.  In the organizing world, we call this a triple threat!  No, sorry, I totally made that up.  But it sounds like something that could be true so let's just go with it.  Organizing triple threat!