L & M's ZDough Wedding!

Ok, perhaps it's not just about the ZDough, but I could not be more excited about being a part of L & M's big day today. When I heard they were interested in ZDough wedding favors, the first thought that came to mind was, "This is going to be the most fun wedding ever!" From their gorgeous location on a working farm, to the opportunity for their guests to camp there over the long weekend, to the obviously lovely couple, everything about this day reads memorable, light-hearted, and filled with joy. L & M, I wish you all the best on your big day and in the many happy years to come!

Now, for those of you interested in how 100 personalized, eucalyptus and wintergreen-scented ZDough wedding favors come together, check out the little slideshow below!

Looking Forward

Things feel like they are coming together. Our move has been a wild ride, but we're here, the boxes are largely unpacked, and Z is off to her new school! Part of me is doing the Mommy-Happy-Dance because I can finally concentrate on work again, but the other part of me is missing her silly self here at home. I'm pretty sure feeling pulled in different directions is the whole crux of this parenting thing...

Right now, I'm looking forward. I hope to make big things happen this year by growing my business. I'd like to partner with local businesses here in Madison and have been so happy to continue the work I was doing with entrepreneurs in Connecticut. Bigger orders are coming my way and the smaller orders for birthday gifts, holidays, and "just because" occasions are keeping me on my toes. Here's to a happy autumn!

To say thanks to those of you who have supported my business already and to welcome newcomers, ZDough is having a sale this long weekend. Enter code LOOKINGFORWARD for $5 off your purchase of $20 or more. It's the perfect time to order those gifts you've been meaning to get for upcoming parties or try something new that you and your kiddos are sure to enjoy. Sale ends Monday, September 7th!

ZDough at Creations

You can imagine my surprise as we were moving out to Madison, WI when I received an email from a new shop in Madison, CT about a wholesale ZDough order. "Madison! Yes!! Oh, wait. Connecticut? Well, yes!"

So Connecticut friends, don't think we've forgotten about you! Creations is a new shop in Madison, CT that features hand-crafted products of all sorts. They've gotten off to a great start with their grand opening earlier this month and their shelves are stocked with ZDough, so if you're interested in supporting makers and local businesses drop on by! You can check them out at www.creationsmadison.com.

What a summer it has been!

As I sit in our new place in Madison, WI I feel right at home, despite the stacks of boxes still around me. It has been a nomadic summer for my family filled with hotel living, family visiting, road trips, Dramamine (oh sweet, sweet Dramamine!), and new beginnings. Thank you to those of you who have reached out along the way to inquire about ZDough for your birthday parties, store grand openings, wedding favors, and giveaways. It has been such a treat to know that we have not been forgotten despite being enormously distracted for the past few months. Today the Etsy shop officially reopens and ZDough is now Madison-made! 

Farewell New Haven!

In just a few days my family and I will be leaving New Haven and starting our move to Madison, Wisconsin! Thank you to all of our friends here who have made this time so sweet. We have many happy memories of living in Connecticut, but I'm especially proud of the fact that my business was born here. I dreamed about it over brunch with my husband, perfected it in my little apartment kitchen, and eventually shared it with this lovely community. Thank you so much to all of the local businesses, museums, and festivals that hosted ZDough over the past year. Having my product displayed on your shelves and delivered into the happy hands of children in this neighborhood has brought me a lot of joy!

I can't wait to set up shop again in Madison this August, but until then it will be the traveling ZDough show for us! We'll take a week off here and there while we're on the road, but we'll be popping back up throughout the summer to fill orders and report back on our grand adventure. In the meantime, if you'd like some hand-crafted play dough please act fast! I'll be closing the shop on June 24 and will reopen on July 1.

School's out for summer!

My little Z just had her last day of school, which means that summer has arrived whether I'm ready or not! Of course at 3 years old the last day of school is more of a sad day ("But I'll miss my teachers!") than that can't-get-out-the-door-fast-enough feeling :) It also tells me that my uninterrupted ZDough production days are over for now. Where there's a kitchen there's a way, but oh the interruptions! I can feel them coming...

The ZDough Summer Set is now available!

In honor of the arrival of summer and those long hot days at home, I'd like to remind you all about the ZDough Summer Set. The set contains 8 oz. each of the summertime varieties: lemon, black cherry, and blueberry. These fruity scents are fun and the bright colors are perfect for the season. The 8 oz. tins are also great for kiddos with siblings and older kids who like to make more complex things with their dough. Between all three tins there is enough dough for 6 kids to play at one time!

Don't forget about adding gift wrap as well! The Summer Set makes the perfect gift and I'm happy to personalize each tin of dough with a kiddo's name stamped into it. Let the fun of summer begin!!

Feeling Springy?

Happy Spring!

It feels like it's taken a while for spring to actually arrive, but with the warm sunshine, flowers blooming, and robins hunting for their worms, it's finally possible to celebrate the beauty of the season!

In honor of spring use code FEELINGSPRINGY for $5 off your order of the Spring Seasonal Set. You'll receive 8 oz of the eucalyptus, lavender and strawberry scented ZDough and the first 3 people to order will receive a bonus item as well! 

As always, ZDough is made with all food-grade ingredients and is scented with essential oils and baking flavors. The natural scents are never cloying- they just give that hint of aroma that makes squishing the silky play dough that much more enjoyable. The sale ends May 15, so act now before spring gives way to summer!

ZDough for Baby Beast: Fun & Fashion

Looking for a side of fun with your microfashion? Check out this weekend's giveaway by Baby Beast, a Detroit-based children's clothing company, and enter to win a Baby Beast children's tee and a mini tin of ZDough! 

ZDough and BabyBeast team up for an amazing giveaway!

When Baby Beast approached ZDough to create an EXCLUSIVE VARIETY, we jumped at the chance. The jet black play dough has a rad Rootbeer Float scent that brings back happy childhood memories. This combination of a vintage toy with modern children's fashion is such fun. Don't miss out!

Baby Beast designs are minimalist, urban, and fun and they use only the finest organic fabrics. My little one has several of their t-shirts and loves their buttery softness. I wish they made them in adult sizes! For directions on how to enter the giveaway go to their Instagram at @shopbabybeast, follow both @shopbabybeast and @z_dough, and tag five of your friends in their Baby Beast/ZDough giveaway post.

Best of luck!

ZDough on the go

At first thought traveling with a tin of play dough might sound like a bad idea. Won't it get all over everything? Won't you leave a trail of (albiet amazing) play dough everywhere you go? While it may not be the right choice for every child, given their age or play style, you may be surprised how wonderful a travel tool it can be!

Little Z uses her Lavender ZDough on a cross-country flight.

Our family has been traveling quite a bit recently, and for anyone who is on the go with toddlers even a trip out to a restaurant requires some materials to keep little hands and imaginations busy. I tossed a mini tin of ZDough in my toddler's backpack a while ago, and it has come in awfully handy! Here are a few tips and tricks to enjoying ZDough whether you're out for dinner or traveling away from home:

1. Only bring it out when the conditions are right. Ask yourself, "Is this a formal setting (think white table cloths...) where play dough will not be appreciated?" If so, keep it tucked away. But if you're eating at a casual restaurant or are on a long flight then I say go ahead! Those of you who have ZDough at home will know that the vibrant colors will not come off on hard surfaces and a quick swipe of the table with your napkin will leave it ready for the next customer. The only things that play dough does not play well with are fabrics (like table cloths) or paper (like menus). Plastic or wooden toys work very well in the dough.

2. Think about how your child is likely to play with it. Does he still like to pick it up and drop it on the floor over and over and over again (just to see you pick it up?) Again, this may not be the right time to bring out your ZDough. But if your little one is old enough to become engrossed in his play and can keep the dough on the table then it could definitely buy you some uninterrupted time to say eat your food...while it's hot.

Use your ZDough tin as a tool!

3. Consider bringing a tool or two. Z's backpack has a mini tin of ZDough and a simply plastic cylinder that she uses as a rolling pin. She's even figured out how to use the tin itself as a tool! The lid can be taken apart to reveal a round ring which can be used as a cookie cutter and a plastic disk that is perfect for flattening little balls of dough and cutting it into strips. Leave it to children to find the best ways to play!

I hope this has given you some good ideas about how to use your ZDough even if you're away from home. Happy travels!

ZDough + Rolling Pins = Hours of Fun!

ZDough has teamed up with Humble Elephant, the makers of engraved rolling pins for children, to bring hours of happy play time to your door! Check out their Kickstarter campaign to see the entire line of children's pins, which are hand-crafted and perfect for use in the kitchen and at the play table. Add ZDough to your package and you've got the perfect gift all ready to go!

My daughter has several animal pins and loves rolling out her ZDough and printing the animals on the dough. She also has a personalized pin with her name on it! The Humble Elephant Kickstarter campaign is in its final hours, so head there now:

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1393077533/tiny-hands-on-a-roll 

ZDough Giveaways for Autism Awareness Month!

Attention friends, parents and teachers,

ZDough has teamed up with Autism Sensory Box this month to provide new and exciting sensory materials to kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Check out their FaceBook page, www.facebook.com/AutismSensoryBox, for amazing giveaways all month long in honor of Autism Awareness. I will be giving away two 8 oz. tins of Eucalyptus and two 8 oz. tins of Lavender ZDough. Enter to win the Eucalyptus tins on April 16 and the Lavender tins on April 19!

As a former Special Education teacher I worked with many kids on the spectrum and think that ZDough would provide a wonderful sensory experience, both through the tactile interaction with the dough as well as through the scents. The Eucalyptus and Lavender doughs are scented with essential oils and have a natural calming effect. As always, the ingredients in ZDough are all food-grade, but eating it is not recommended. While ZDough smells great it does not taste good! So enter for the giveaways and let's start playing!!

April Showers and May Flowers

Spring seems to have finally arrived, and with it the first crocuses, daffodils, and tulips. My little one is very interested in the garden but would prefer her digging and planting efforts to yield more immediate results. And so a new play activity was born: ZDough Gardens! After a quick trip to the craft store she was ready to plant her garden in new and exciting ways each day.

For this activity you will need:

Several silk flowers of your choice (trimmed by an adult so they are not so tall)

A planting container (or several)

At least 8 oz of ZDough (any variety)

A handful of small dried beans or seeds (we used chickpeas because we had them on hand)

A small teapot or watering can (empty)

Once we gathered the materials my kiddo was so excited to get started planting! She has been learning about plants at school, so she already knew that some "soil" would need to go in her planters. She happily squished up some ZDough and added it to her containers. We happened to have a lot of brown ZDough after some happy mixing of the Spring Seasonal Set had occurred earlier in the season. If you want to use brown dough this is a great time to put to use any mixed up ZDough that you might have, or you can always order the Cinnamon variety. After she prepared the soil she added a few chickpeas to each pot and gently covered them with the ZDough. She then pretended to water the seeds with the teapot she uses in pretend play. After allowing some time for the seeds to grow (a few seconds I think!) she started planting the flowers by placing each stem in the soil. It took time for her to learn to mound the ZDough up around each stem to keep it upright and she greatly enjoyed changing the flowers from pot to pot, arranging them on the table, and then putting all the flowers away when it got "too cold for them." I also asked her to dig out all of the chickpeas from the dough before we put the materials away. It was a nice little treasure hunt and allowed for everything to be ready to use again the next day!

After your child tries out this activity the first time there are several variations you may want to suggest to extend their play. You could provide different items for the "seeds" and ask if those seeds grow into different flowers. You could even have your little one come into the kitchen with you to choose which "seeds" will grow into each kind of flower. Any hard item will do- dried beans, seeds, pasta, beads, etc. Just choose something you feel is safe for your child to play with. 

You could also add a mathematical element to this planting activity by giving your child dice and asking them to roll before they plant each container. If they roll a four then they plant four seeds and four flowers. This kind of play with counting is a wonderful way to incorporate important skills in a fun context. Get creative, and if you come up with a new way to play ZDough Gardens send me a picture of your idea! I'd love to post it here and will reward entries with a free ZDough sample!!

Shout out from Artist & Craftsman in New Haven!

I stopped into Artist & Craftsman in New Haven today and received the warmest welcome from their staff. These people definitely know their art materials, and they were so excited by a play dough that smells great and is silky and soft. I left some ZDough samples from the Rainbow Set in their shop, and if you're downtown you should definitely check them out! They have every craft material under the sun, not to mention great gifts for people of all ages. Here's what they had to say on FaceBook:

"We had a great visit from local craftsperson Kira Rama today. She showed us her hand made product ZDough , and is REALLY neat stuff. It's a kids modeling material that has bright colors, and smells sooooo good (like CRAZY good). We're ALL about supporting our local artists and craftspeople, especially when we love the product, so check out her Facebook and Etsy page (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ZDough). If you are tired of mass produced crap for your young ones, you may really like her colored modeling dough. Feel free to come by the store here to check out a sample she left behind!"

Hop to it! It's a Spring Sale!!

To celebrate spring the Rainbow ZDough Set is 20% off! Just use coupon code SPRING20 by March 31st.

Let's pretend!

While the littlest kiddos enjoying playing with toys, it's pretend play that really puts the world at the fingertips of a young child. Open-ended materials like ZDough can help foster that kind of play because with a little creativity it can become anything! If your little one seems unsure how to get started with this kind of material (or smashes it a few times and declares, "I'm done!") try these strategies to inspire and extend their play:

1. Provide props- Often times a few well-chosen items can help to set the stage for fantastic pretend play. A pair of oven mitts and a cookie sheet could inspire some ZDough "baking", while tea cups and stuffed animals provide the setting for a ZDough tea party!

2. Model what it looks like to pretend- If you've gathered a pile of plastic dinosaurs and are ready for them to tromp through the ZDough landscape, help your kiddo get started with something more specific than, "Why don't you play with your dinosaurs?" Try picking up a dinosaur, making tracks through the play dough, and saying, "Come on guys, it's time for an adventure! Follow me and let's see if we can climb the tallest mountain in all the land! I just hope we get there before that pesky T-Rex..." 

3. Make a suggestion and then stand back- If your kiddos are anything like mine, they want you to play with them. When they start to get lost in the world of pretend they may become more independent in their play, but chances are they'll still want you to participate. Try setting the stage for their play with the strategies above and then let them take charge and see where things go. If it looks like their interest is fading or that they can't quite get into the groove, try making a suggestion like, "I wonder if Mr. Panda would like a cookie with his tea?" or "Wow! It looks like the dinosaurs made it all the way over the mountain. They must be thirsty. Do you think they might need to go find a lake where they can take a drink?" Your suggestion may fall on deaf ears, but it might be just the thing that helps your kiddo to try something new or take their play in a new direction.

Introducing the Rainbow ZDough Set!

Perhaps you've got spring fever. Maybe you're preparing to fill your Easter baskets or are looking for a special Passover gift. Either way the Rainbow ZDough Set will thrill the little ones in your life with six 2.5 oz. tins of naturally- scented play dough in a hand-stamped gable box. Let the springtime fun begin!

Rolling out ZDough "snakes" is always a favorite activity. Arrange them to form a rainbow and add fluffy white pompoms to complete the look!

This set includes the following scented doughs: Strawberry or Caramel Apple (your choice), Pumpkin Spice, Lemon, Eucalyptus, Blueberry, & Lavender

Treasure Hunt!

Who doesn't like hunting for buried treasure? And the best part about hunting with little ones is that they're happy to hide the treasure AND help find it! Gather a few precious items from around the house (gold coins from the dollar store, jewels, etc.) and have your kiddo help bury them in some ZDough. Put the buried treasure in a decorative bowl and then give them tools to dig it out!

While it may seem like this activity would only interest toddlers, older children might find it fun with just a bit of tweaking. Try hiding something new in the ZDough each time (maybe small plastic toys, rings, tokens, etc.) and ask for their help finding them. To make sure that all of the treasure is found ask them to make an inventory with a drawing of each kind of item and the number they found. Recording can be a wonderful way for children to extend their play and it allows them to practice important skills like writing, drawing, and counting in a fun context.

*Project Note* This activity is wonderful for kids at a variety of ages and abilities. That said, it does include small items that may pose a choking hazard. Please use your own judgement when it comes to choosing materials and activities that are best of your little one and supervise their play.

Fine motor fun for St. Patrick's Day!

Most children enjoy fine motor activities, and while they're great fun they're educational too. Learning to string beads, roll play dough, and pick up small objects helps children strengthen their fingers and build dexterity that they will use later on to grip a pencil and learn to write. But before you go racing off to teach your toddler the correct pencil grip, remember that children learn best through play. So gather a few materials from around the house and have some fun!

For this project you will need:

Eucalyptus ZDough (Great for St. Patrick's Day play but you could use any variety.)

6 Pipe cleaners (It will help little ones to have one for each color of the rainbow so they can match the color of the bead to the pipe cleaner, but as you can see below it's fine to go with what you have lying around.)

Beads (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple pony beads work well. I used dyed pasta that we had left over from another beading project.)

Dishes for sorting beads

Golden treasures (Beads, coins, jewels- whatever you have that looks precious enough to be found at the end of the rainbow!)

Now that your materials are assembled you can invite your little one to play. Depending on their age they will be able to help you sort the beads by color and then match the color beads to the color of the pipe cleaner. If sorting is out of their league just yet, they can string any beads onto the pipe cleaners. If your kiddos are older they can use the beads to make patterns on their pipe cleaners! Once the pipe cleaners are adorned the kiddos can divide the ZDough into two balls and stick the ends of the pipe cleaners in to make rainbow arches. Now all that's left is to put the treasure at the end of the rainbow!

*Project Note* This activity is wonderful for kids at a variety of ages and abilities. That said, it does include small items that may pose a choking hazard. Please use your own judgement when it comes to choosing materials and activities that are best of your little one and supervise their play.

ZDough teams up with Project Storefronts!

New Haven Friends,

Don't forget to visit ZDough at the Project Storefronts Pop Up Shop this Wednesday, February 11! We will be there with mini tins, valentines and play dough tools for sale. Mention the code SHOPLOCAL for 10% off. For more details go to the Events page. See you there!

Beaded Valentines

There is nothing like Valentine's Day to bring out the sweet heart in little ones. Unfortunately it can also bring out their sweet tooth. Rose ZDough is the perfect way to turn Valentine's Day into a time to create and share with the people you love! Roll it out, cut out some hearts and decorate them with beads, jewels and other household items. Make them at the kitchen table as a Friday family activity, lay out the materials for a Valentine's Day party, or simply let your little one become engrossed in creating and recreating with this open-ended material.