Finding gifts for our 4 boys seems to get harder and harder each year. We have a small house with little storage, so I need gifts that spark creativity, foster independent play, and don’t take up too much space.
*Raising Arizona Kids received these products free of charge but all thoughts and reviews are our own!*
When I stumbled on Pauli Dough’s sensory kits, I knew I had to give them a try! Our middle boys are 2.5 and 5 years old. The perfect age for play dough and sensory kits (although you need to be careful about small parts). There’s a variety of different seasonal themes but we got the Winter Time Sensory Bin with blue and white rice, a sled, some trees, snowflakes, a bowl, scooper, and this adorable little person on an inner-tube.
I opened the kit, and my toddler went to town! He must have played with the kit for an hour. Pouring rice from the bin to a cup, burying the sled, making the little person sled down a pretend hill, and just feeling the rice in-between his fingers. (And making it rain a little bit of rice on his head…I didn’t say it was the cleanest gift!).
My five-year-old played with it after school and was a little more meticulous and intentional with his playtime. He quietly sat at the table and played, and made minimal mess! It comes in a bin with a lid so its easy to store for another day of play.
A few days later when we needed a little after-nap activity we opened the ‘Decorate the Christmas Tree’ dough kit, and this was probably my favorite! The play dough is so soft, smells delicious, and is so easy to work with. The first thing I noticed was that the dough was so much easier to work with than name brand dough and didn’t make as much of a crumbly mess.
The kids (even my oldest at nearly 11!) had fun playing together and molding the dough to the tree and adding decorations. After my toddler had finished, the older two even pretended to make ‘broccoli’ pizza out of the dough. We brought it out again that night and our toddler played with it while we were waiting for dinner to finish! Since it comes in a little kit it would be a great addition to take on the go.
I saved what I thought would be the MOST fun for last and we made the Instant Snow Busy Hands Kit! Turns out—it was also the messiest! But our toddler and preschooler loved squishing their hands in the bowl. You just add water, and right before your eyes it transforms into fluffy, squishy snow. While we felt comfortable with our toddler playing with it just keep in mind that it is NOT safe to put in mouths.
We used a large serving bowl, but I think this would be a lot of fun on top of a disposable tablecloth or cookie sheet. The snow pretty much got all over the clothes, table, floor, and chairs, but we just let them go to town and then cleaned up when they seemed done. We did have to be watchful about the snow that ended up on the floor because we have a crawling baby and curious pets.
About Pauli Dough: Anne Pauli, owner of Pauli Dough, is a former teacher with a degree in Early Childhood Development and Elementary Education. She is a ‘work-at-home-mom’ and has two children ages 2 and 4. She created the play dough as a fun activity for her children and that transformed into the brand!
Want to win a gift set of your own? Enter below! And make sure to come out and visit Pauli Dough at our Camp Fair February 24, 2024!
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For more holiday gift ideas check out our 2023 Holiday Gift Guide!
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