7 play suggestions with granulated clay playfoam
Author: Sharon Wing
Game leader and mother
Playfoam consists of small balls that stick together. These sticky balls can be kneaded into all kinds of shapes. The balls weigh almost nothing, which makes the material comfortable to hold. Playfoam is available in all kinds of beautiful colors, is non-toxic, odorless and does not stick to anything other than itself. Children can play with it wonderfully without getting them (or the furniture) dirty. Playfoam never dries out and can be used again and again.
You can see Playfoam as a type of clay, with the emphasis on type. For example, you can flatten it and cut out figures with a clay mold, but you can't put it through a clay press. It is certainly different from normal play clay. Because of its structure, you can't sculpt it in great detail, but it is perfectly suitable for rough pinching, kneading, pushing and rolling. Now this almost sounds like you can only do rough things with Playfoam, but that's certainly not what I mean. It is actually a very versatile material!
What can you do with it?
- 1. Of course you can knead the material wonderfully, but you can also make all kinds of animals and shapes from it. With us, the colors of foam got mixed up very quickly, but even then it still looks very nice. (And if you are really bored, you could even pick the colors apart again.)
- 2. When making animals or shapes, as mentioned, you can only work quite roughly. However, this is not bad at all, especially if you work 'flat' with the foam you can make nice two-dimensional figures. Or add googly eyes, sticks and feathers and make the strangest creatures with this ball clay. If you use feathers, make sure that the piece you push into the foam does not contain any down, because this will stick to the balls.
- 3. Decorate the foam with sequins and other glitter stones to create the cutest bracelets, Christmas trees, Easter eggs, etc.
- 4. Another nice feature of Playfoam is that it floats. So my 'odd duck' could really swim, or you can make rafts from the foam or experiment with concepts such as floating, sinking and top-heavy.
- 5. We often use the foam as a base to play on. With these balls you can quickly create a (rainbow) landscape with mountains and caves where you can play with plastic animals for hours.
- 6. Playfoam is also very nice in combination with a play kitchen or some pans, bowls and spoons. You can make the nicest soups, cakes and sandwiches with it!
- 7. Make 'blocks' of the foam, because it sticks together so easily, you can make the most beautiful constructions. Also very suitable for young children who can't build so well with regular blocks.
