Moms and Dads, teachers and babysitters, are you tired of clean-up from messy Play-Doh play sessions? I just bought two colours of Floam “micro beaded modeling fun” for my niece’s third birthday, and I actually had as much fun playing with it as she did!
Floam is this crazy stuff that’s non-sticky (within reason, I’ll get to that), and leaves barely any residue on play surfaces. It comes in vibrant colours, and has white micro beads suspended in a sort of a gel-textured substance. Because of the easy clean-up (it’s water soluble), it’s a bit easier to pull out, play with and put away quickly than Play Doh, and it definitely can be manipulated and shaped by little hands.
In addition to making shapes with it on its own, Floamit.com says that the stuff works best in coating a shape, and suggests to use aluminum foil to make a centre shape to then cover. While it will stay moist when sealed away in its container, it actually hardens when left to dry, so kids can make some pretty cool artwork.
The one caveat is that as non-sticky as it seems, Floam can coat things - skin can pick up the coloured residue (like Uncle Konrad’s pink nose following his play session with the kids - covering his nose in the goo) and it also sticks to textiles like my niece’s shirt. Floamit.com has this warning on their web site: “Caution: Floam may stick to or stain fabrics and other surfaces. Avoid contact with hair, carpet, upholstery, walls, and any varnished/unvarnished surfaces.”
So pretty much avoid contact with anything, then?!
And one more thing - only mix colours together if you want to get NEW colours because once two different Floam colours meet, there’s no separating them!
And oh yeah - I discovered that if you roll some of it up into a ball, it bounces pretty well…but with the aforementioned stickiness factor, I might not suggest whipping those around the house, lest you want your sofa or drapes covered in bright bits of goo.
My niece and nephew are pretty discerning when it comes to new play stuff and they had a great time with Floam…and so did I. The company says the product is safe for kids aged three and older, and I would add three up to 100 for all-ages fun! After playing with it, I have come to think of this stuff as therapeutic…it was probably a combination of time with the kids, hearing them giggle and delight at their artwork, and this art session of my own. Just don’t bring your ego to the table - the stuff the kids made was way better than mine!
You can check out Floam at floamit.com.
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