Cornmeal Sensory Experiment

Usually I follow a practice to not use food items in art and other play activities (where it is not going to be eaten). There are a number of reasons for not doing so including that it can spread germs and is wasteful.
But I had a special situation.
I had a large bag of cornbread mix that had gotten old and did not taste good. I was about to throw it away in the trash can when I hesitated, thinking I should be able to get some type of use out of it.
So tonight I poured some into a cake pan, and set it on a towel on the living room floor. Westley rolled up his sleeves and dug right in (literally).

Will was cute. He watched Westley and looked at him like "what are you doing" He inched closer and closer and finally snuck over and stuck his hand in the cornbread mix. He pulled his hand out quickly, wiped it on his clothes and walked away. That was enough of a sensory activity for him!

Westley continued to play in it for a long time. He made mountains, and then flattened it all back out by shaking the pan. He guessed letters I drew in the mix, he buried his hands, stepped in with his feet, and looked for "corn treasures" (I also dehydrated some left over corn on the cob to add in).

It didn't take much of my corn mix to do put it in the pan like this. So I still have a lot left. We'll either do this activity over and over again (like we do many of our activities at Westley's request) or I might have to think of more ideas for it.