Indoor Play - Jelly fun in the bath

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I had bought some packets of jelly crystals months ago for Luath to do some edible finger painting, we have only tried this once, so I thought I would set it up for Luath to have another go.  This time I thought it would be fun to play with it in the bath tub - she can make a mess and it'll be easy to clean up.

I made up two orange packets of jelly and poured it into some moulds (these didn't work out well, I think I didn't leave them in the fridge long enough to set).  I also used two blackcurrant packets but put in twice as much water as recommended so it stayed unset.

I filled the bath with some warm water but kept the level shallow.  Firstly I let Luath play in the bath with her ducks - being in the big tub doesn't happen very often, so this was a novelty.

Next I poured in a little of the diluted jelly liquid, letting Luath watch the water turn a lovely colour and compare how one part of the bath tub water was clear the other was coloured.  I added the rest of the liquid and mixed it so all the bath water was a purplish colour.  The colour stayed for the whole of the bath time.  Being so diluted there wasn't much of a blackcurrant aroma.

I took some jelly from the ice cube moulds and handed it to Luath.  I should have realised how quickly it would dissolve once it hit the warm water.  I let Luath play with a couple of the jelly moulds, removing the jelly and watching it fall and disappear in the water.

So Luath could get a little more play from the jelly, I put a plastic step stool into the bath and placed a tray (luckily I had carried all the jelly through on it) on top of it.  I then tipped most of the remaining jelly onto the tray.  Luath enjoyed moving the jelly around.  The orange smell was gorgeous.

Once she had lost interest in finger painting, I added a little water to the tray, which changed the consistency of the jelly, and she played some more.  We gradually added more water to the tray. 

Finally we let the ducks have some jelly fun.

Clean up was easy as all the jelly dissolved in the water and there was no staining left on the bath or Luath.

We both enjoyed the experience and it definitely lasted longer than if I had just set up jelly finger painting at the table.  Surprising Luath didn't taste the jelly.  We have had quite a week of Luath checking things out by putting them in her mouth, I have had to ask her a few times if I can have what she has in her mouth, or persuade her to swap the object for something to eat if she thinks her prize it worth holding onto.

shared with Tuesday tots see what else tots have been doing

 (Luath is 16 months old