sensory play and Excema

[LaughingHyena]

I have a 4yo who loves playdough, sand, water play and those sort of sensory experiences. However he also has excema which is not helped by doing those sorts of activities, or indeed by the extra handwashing needed afterwards (well almost bath if fingerpaints are involved :lol)

I'm feeling a bit out of ideas. Ideally something not to messy for indoors as it's still pretty cold and wet here and that won't need lots of handwashing.

[4evermom]

The main problem is that those things dry skin?  My ds doesn't have excema but sometimes I put olive oil in his bath during the winter.  You could do that with a basin of water for water play.  You could also make your own playdough with oil in it.  It will keep the dough from drying out as well as the skin.  Do you think the wheat in the playdough bothers him?  The kids I know with excema have wheat allergies...  I'm sure there are wheat free recipes to be found online.

Now the oil can be messy but it should wash off fabric if you pretreat it with a squirt of dish detergent.   And you can probably just wipe or rinse his hands off without washing them.  And if you wash them, they will hopefully be soaked up with enough oil that they won't be too dry afterward.

[LaughingHyena]

Thanks for the suggestions. We have stuff for his bath, I never thought of adding that for water play

I don't think it's the wheat in the playdough that's bothering him. I've tried keeping a food diary and not noticed it being a problem, skin contact may be different though.I do tend to add more oil than the recipe calls for to try and ease things. At the moment it's pollen season which always makes his skin worse.

Also looking round old threads we haven't had a rice bin for a while, that should be OK.