Fun with Oatmeal

I have a ton of steel cut oatmeal that I bought in bulk when Aiden was first eating solid food.
I wasn’t very happy with it, so I switched to quick oats –
much easier to make into baby food.
We don’t eat oatmeal that often,
so I still have a lot of quick oats and a bunch of steel cut oats
{not to mention 2 whole boxes of instant oatmeal
because Patrick decided he wanted to start eating it for breakfast –
that didn’t last very long…}

What to do with all of that oatmeal lying around?

I was peeling potatoes and Aiden wanted to “help.”
He dragged the step ladder over to the counter and climbed up.
He couldn’t really do anything at the moment,
so I pulled some dishes out of the sink
and dumped some of the steel cut oats into a bowl.

Aiden had an incredible amount of fun
“measuring,” mixing, stirring, and dumping
the oats everywhere.
They were on the counter, the floor, and even our dog.

Super fun use for the “useless” steel cut oats.
It kept Aiden entertained the entire time I was making dinner.
Aiden now requests to play with the oatmeal.
Only negative {with a silver lining}: oatmeal gets everywhere and must be vacuumed up.
Silver lining:  I am forced to vacuum and sweep the kitchen.

Try giving your little ones ingredients to play with.
{I don’t advocate letting them stand on a step ladder.
Aiden is a climber and it’s pretty much unavoidable at my house.
You can place the bowls and spoons on the floor –
even on top of a blanket/towel/mat to make clean up easier.}

Want another use for oatmeal?

We’ve also made edible oatmeal playdough before.
{See the original post here.}

I decided to make some again the other day for Aiden to play with while I cooked.
I didn’t have the recipe in front of me, so I just made one up.
I actually think it turned out a little better.
It also made a lot less – just enough for a short play time.

Here’s the “recipe” I used this time:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup water

Mix it all together.
Add flour to your work surface.
Knead the dough and add more flour until it feels like play dough.

I like the consistency of this one a little better than my first recipe.

Play around with the ratios as much as you’d like to get different textures.

Do you have any other uses for steel cut oatmeal?  I’m still trying to use it up!

Thanks for reading!