How many times have you set up an elaborate invitation for your kids only for them to lose interest and move on .2 seconds after sitting down? It happens to me all.the.time and drives me absolutely up the wall. I spend so much time researching and planning out activities. Only for them to sit down and decide they don’t like it. Or even worse, play with it “wrong”.

Recently, Kelly, @lattesandlunchrooms over on Instagram, shared the tutorial for fossil dough (from Views from the Ville) and dinosaurs. I made a note of it, but knew we didn’t have any big plans of talking about dinos coming up. We needed a quick activity last weekend, so I decided to give it a try and just set it out with some bugs for Brixton (5) during naptime. I didn’t have any expectations when I set it out. The dough was still really wet feeling and I honestly didn’t think he’d really play with it.

He blew me away when he took right to it and dug in.

And then something happened.
“Mama, I need grass.“

Ok, kiddo.
I panicked for a second because I wasn’t prepared for additional requests. I had a dough, an accessory, and was well prepared with 2 towels to wipe his hands off on. Adding extra materials was not even a thought that crossed my mind when setting this up.

He knew what he was looking for though and ran and grabbed the green and blue glass gems.
“These are for the sky and these are for the grass“

When the next request came, I was no more prepared, but I recovered way quicker this time.
“We need trees, now.”
Bam, recycled toilet paper rolls from the bin, some quick marker, and here we go.

Also notice that “sky” is gone, but he moved them down and created a pond for the frogs instead

The last thing we added were some pom pom flowers.

For an initial set up of just some sand colored dough and bugs, we turned it into a whole small world. That was played with for HOURS. When Colston woke up, we showed him each feature, and they played together for the longest time. I don’t even know what to do with myself when that happens. Which is why there are zero pictures. Because I was so shocked I just watched them play and totally forgot to actually document it.

This got me thinking about letting the boys dictate what and how we play more often. It’s so easy for me to just decide, but letting Brixton pick each part really made him feel special. Giving them that power and authority over things like this is an easy way for me to step back and them to step up.

Do you follow your kids’ lead on activities. This was an eye-opener for sure. Let us know in the comments and give us a follow over on Instagram @thebplusmama to see what we’re up to daily!