OUR STORY
I’m Catherine Landis, the founder of Oat What Fun. I have a M.S. degree in Education, taught middle school reading, and was a preschool educator and director.
I am a mom of three children and through all of my personal experiences, I have become a natural living expert who is passionate about helping families create healthier homes.
Oat What Fun was created for my son, William, who went on an extensive medical journey from ages 2-4. He was ultimately diagnosed with Crohn’s and put on multiple immune suppressing medications, but I begged his doctors for an alternative treatment plan. His doctors told me I could explore natural living and change our lifestyle. There were no guarantees, but I saw a beacon of hope and decided we had nothing to lose.
I spent countless hours researching all natural living and tackling every aspect of our lifestyle by swapping out personal products, cleaning products, plastics, and foods for natural alternatives. Through this process, I could not find play products that met our all natural living standards. I know as an educator how important play is. I spent the next five years developing safe play products. Oat What Fun was born. William’s Crohn’s is in remission, and my entire family lives in a happier, healthier home.
Now I am on a mission to spread the joy of safer, natural play products to all children. Let’s create healthier homes together!
From my family to yours,
Catherine
WHY HANDS-on PLAY?
1. encourages speech development
By engaging in hands-on play, children learn how to describe what they’re doing and how it feels, which leads them to using more descriptive words to communicate.
2. Develops fine motor skills
Think of hands-on play as exercise for children's hands. This type of play focuses on building, pouring and mixing, which allows children to use small muscle groups and coordinate movements. All of this leads to developing strong hands which allows children to begin handwriting, learn to tie their shoes, zip a zipper, open an apple pouch, and more.
3. stimulates cognitive growth
With hands-on play, children are working on problem solving skills. It encourages them to explore how to play and engage with different experiences as well as how to maneuver challenges they encounter. For example, things like how to pour sand from one container to another or how to form play dough into a shape. All of this is problem solving and thinking about how things work, which results in cognitive growth.
4. has a calming effect
Hands-on play is a great resource for teaching children how to regulate their emotions. Playing with different textures with hands builds nerve connections to the brain resulting in children feeling calm and soothed.
5. inspires social interaction
By engaging in hands-on play with siblings or peers, children begin to develop social skills. They’ll learn how to communicate, how to troubleshoot problems and learn to adapt to how others play. Hands-on play is something every child can engage in and play together.
what our customers are saying
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I love that Oat What Fun is taste safe. It gives me a peace of mind knowing there aren't any yucky, harmful ingredients.
The play dough smells soooo good. My two boys ask to play with it almost every day! It is definitely their favorite!
– Lisa -
All I can say is WOW! A friend recommended your products, but I have to admit I was skeptical. I previously bought play dough sets that came with a bunch of tiny toys, and I thought that was necessary for play. When I tried your minimalist approach, I wasn't sure my kids would really play with it. I was wrong!!! They played for hours! I have never seen or heard them be so imaginative with some jars of dough and tools. Thank you for reminding me how beautiful simple things are!
-Lauren -
Your sand is a huge hit in our house! I've also used it for preschool party gifts and will be using it for the classroom sensory bin!
I love that the play dough does not come with a ton of small parts, and more open ended tools.
– Laura -
Your play dough lasts so long. It has been awesome to see my son's play transform over the last year.
I love giving your products as gifts and can't wait to order more!
– Erin
