Beets, Play dough and Wool

This is a fun week. I have been swimming in beets in my house this past winter and I am so sick to death of eating them! They are tasty true but I swear I've eaten my body weight in them and I would much rather eat my body weight in Julien's Hot Cross Buns!! Just a couple more weeks left and then they are gone until next year.

Anyway, back to beets. Yesterday we picked up our CSA box from Taproot and it was full of beets again. I really can't complain, I did commit to eating local and seasonal this past year and we have really enjoyed it. Today, I brought all my organic beets into the school and boiled them. I was on a mission for that beautiful beet juice.

Once the beets were cooked I used the beet juice to make the most incredible colour of magenta play dough! Not kidding, so freaking beautiful. Just replace the water for beet juice or any natural dye with water.

But play dough wasn't enough for me, so I set up the water table and pulled out lots of wool that we dyed last year at mt. I set it up with warm soapy water (lots of really warm water and I grated a bar of ivory soap) into the tub. Then the real fun began.

We had many children come and go from that table all morning long. We watched with wonder at how they handled all that soapy wool making it into balls or what ever they choose. I did suggest egg shapes as I have another project in my mind later this week or next.

At the end of the morning we were left with an empty basket and sadness because we had no wool left. As I type this I have two pots boiling away on my stove. Tomorrow is another day, and I've used the last of my beet juice to make the most beautiful shade of pink. I couldn't resist the robins egg blue either. I MUST be in a sensitive period for colour right now.