I'm sure we've all either heard it or said it: "Don't play with your food." I'm usually discouraging a budding mashed-potato sculptor during dinner. Food is for eating.
This is not a novel concept.
But what about kids using food in art? It's a topic that lots of people are talking about, thanks to the rather spectacular headline (and a TV news item) "Playdough use offends Maori" (though it was later retitled as "Playdough controversial amongst Maori").
The predictable reaction occurred in the comments, mostly from people reacting to only the headline. Political correctness gone mad! How dare Maori ban playdough! Stop being so precious!
But discussion of food in play, particularly at early childhood centres, is not a novel topic. Two seconds of googling found "Should Food Be Used as Learning Materials?". A glance at the references shows sources back to 1985.
Nor is it unique to New Zealand / tikanga Māori. Playing with food is taboo in places as diverse as Germany and Guatemala. I'm left wondering why this is news.
As a Playcentre parent, I'm well aware that we have policies on using food in play. There are no macaroni collages or potato prints. Food is food (and we do plenty of baking), play materials are play material. It's been that way for at least 10 years.
But we make playdough with flour. It's a significant part of our Playcentre experience, particularly for my girl twin, Vieve. At nearly three, she loves sculpting people. The little figure in the picture above was described as "This mine man! He so happy! He really happy!"
She often makes one figure to represent herself, and another for her twin, before demanding that I put their initials on them. I laughed and laughed the day she then took a rolling pin to "Finn". Vieve narrated, "Finny get rolled. He have a long hair! No... Mummy have long hair. Make a M for Mummy?"
How does Playcentre justify the use of flour in playdough? I've had the reasoning explained to me as you can't eat flour on its own; it's not an edible food as is. Playcentres keep separate flour for baking and playdough, and playdough flour is often donated by supermarkets, in ripped bags.
These guidelines were established through a process of discussion and consensus. A similar process will have occurred at the Maori centres who have chosen not to use playdough. They have decided that, within their particular environment, it's not appropriate. If parents disagree, they can go elsewhere. They can choose to do that.
As you can choose to make playdough with your kids if you want to.
Uncooked Playdough
This is my simplest, quickest recipe. There are lots of other variations, which give slightly different textures. A tablespoon of cream of tartar is a common addition.
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons oil
a few drops food colouring
1 cup boiling water
Put the ingredients in a large bowl, in the order specified. Stir it until it all mixes, forms a ball, and is cool enough to handle. Knead it with floured hands until well mixed and smooth.
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we are moving away from political correctness that ruined so much fun for kids to the even worse Maori correctness. Why can't people just say they don't want their child having fun instead of wrecking it for everyone. perhaps if more adults played with playdough and remembered what it was like to be a kid so many people wouldn't be so anal. there is nothing wrong with playing with food as a kid. more adults should do it.
What's next? We can't go swimming because water is for drinking?
The article was all a big fuss over nothing. Nothing has changed, nothing has been banned, yet there was pearlclutching all over my FB wall all weekend. It's ridiculous.
considering how much playdough went into my and other friends mouths at kindy - I think I would prefer kids did this with real ingredients than a toxic non-food based mixtures.
I have been at Playcentre for 22 years and we have never used food in the areas of play. I have yet to see a child that is developmentally delayed because of this ommission in their early childhood experience. We have a very defined kaupapa around the use of Playdough and there is a continued dialogue around its use and preparation. Last year I visited a early childhood centre in Havelock North which over a period of years has moved towards a fully sustainable environment. It is a beautiful centre with a no plastic used, all they paper recycled, they make a good deal of their paper - - and they used NO Playdough - for many reasons, some already mentioned in the debate, but also because of the high salt content making it difficult to break down. They made bread every day, ground their own wheat, the children made their own bread shapes (as they would with Playdough), baked it and ate it. They also had clay out every day. It would be a huge mind shift for many centres, but it can be done.
@aiden #2: Way to miss the point.
a #5, all playdough for sale in NZ has to be non-toxic.
@ Donnelle - why has aidan missed the point? Is this not for varying comments & opinions? That's quite a dimissive reply to him/her.
@ Marianne Dawson, very articulate & interesting comment, I would just like to ask, why does it have to be done?
I see this as nothing more than petty, I also see this as stifling creativity and burdening our young ones with complexities not needed at their age. My brother and I had free range to stencil potatoes make pasta creations and play dough up the neighbourhood, I allowed my own children this also, and feel blessed that I was able too. Clearly it is getting harder for parents and centres to just 'do' and 'be'. Sad times.
LB #9: Change is haaard, let's go shopping. Really? It's "sad" to take someone else's traditions into account besides your own?
As Donnelle said in her article, it's not just Maori. If you were raising your Kiwi kids in Germany there would be no potato prints, pasta creations or playdough made of flour either. There'd be other cool traditions to incorporate into your family's routines instead.
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"The predictable reaction occurred in the comments, mostly from people reacting to only the headline." You forgot to mention their inbred racism as well...
Let's face it. The knee jerk "anti-maori" reaction we see constantly on this site's forums does not come from a unbiased population of readers.