One of my eldest daughter’s treasured Christmas presents this year was a 24-pack of play dough that she received from one of her best friends. Now, this probably isn’t news or even slightly interesting to most parents, but my eldest will be seventeen in a matter of weeks. On Christmas day, as a matter of fact, she and my second daughter (who will be sixteen) scooted off the red holiday dining room tablecloth and played with the play dough for close to an hour.
It was amazing all the very creative little sculptures they came up and I was pretty impressed at how careful they were to keep the colors from mixing and smudging. Hard to believe that one of these was the same girl who used to smush together play dough, paint, whatever until she came up with a dusky grey. I refer to the two years of preschool and kindergarten as her “grey period.”
I wrote earlier about the fact that our family still colors in coloring books—even though the youngest of us is fourteen, but play dough is another one of those therapeutic “tools” that it seems we just aren’t outgrowing. How relaxing it is after a busy day of stress and obligation to settle down and mold and knead some of that familiar soft dough! I think it’s actually more relaxing now than when the kids were little and I was scraping it off the carpet, the bottom of shoes, and clipping it out of the cats’ hair. Now, my daughter’s pallet of twenty four soft, vibrant colors is lined up neatly with the lids on tight—ready for a little de-stressing and creative expression. With no management necessary from mom.
So, the next time you’re wracking your brain for the perfect “family” present or gift for a teenager—don’t overlook the arts and crafts aisle!