Fun with White Flour

We have some flour in the cupboard that's been feeling pretty ignored lately.  Yeah, all the super motivational healthy eating people say that you should always clear all the junk food out of your house when you are dedicated to eating healthfully.  But I always have to wonder: do they go to potlucks?  Do they have normal-eating friends over?  What do they serve them?  

Confession: I am not opposed to whipping up a batch of normal chocolate chip cookies when when we have a house full of guests.  I am not going to convince them that they should join me in my food insanity by serving them nasty coconut flour cookies (and, sorry, I still haven't found a grain-free cookie that is anywhere near delicious).  We don't use white flour regularly for our own family meals.  But it is not like I'll be hanging out one evening, craving something sweet, and think, "Hey, I'll just go have a spoonful of flour," so I consider this a pretty safe staple to have around the house in case I need to make something quick and cheap for someone else.

Side Note: This activity, when used with toddlers, WILL make a mess, unless you hover over your children the whole time.

Side Note #2: Did you know (I only found out a year or two ago), that people with Celiac disease can sometimes have reactions to gluten that just touches their skin, or that they breath?  Scary stuff!  

We poured just enough flour into a pan to coat the bottom.  I made it thick enough so the kids could smooth it out into a layer to "erase" the marks they made in it.

Little Miss Euler basically just smashed the flour around, and made a few little shapes.  My personal favorite, "I'm going to draw a rainbow for Daddy!  A black rainbow..."

 But Einstein was really focused on smoothing it out, then drawing and writing in it.  We practiced all our letters that we've learned so far, and he was way more interested in the process than usual.  He is not a huge fan of messy hands, so we started out using the eraser end of a pencil to write.  Then, once he saw how much fun Miss Euler was having, he joined in the chaos, and they both ended up basically coated in flour from the waist up.

Even Baby Euclid got in on the action (he is going through a not-putting-stuff-in-his-mouth-that-much phase right now, so I was okay with him playing this way).

There may also be homemade play-dough in our future, to help the rest of the flour not feel so neglected.  I also have a box of whole wheat penne in the cupboard that's just begging to be made into some kind of pasta craft.

If you've ever started eating differently, did you purge the kitchen of all junk food first?  Do you serve different kinds of foods to guest, or at potlucks, than you and your family eat everyday?