Play Dough!

Today my daughter and I wanted to try something different. We've been stuck inside for pretty much the last 6 months, and needless to say, we're going crazy! I thought it would be fun to make some play dough. I've never done it before, so I went online to find a good recipe (Brielle still loves to put things in her mouth) that would be safe to eat.

I found this great recipe, and it is supposed to be one that keeps the dough nice and soft.

I made it today and Brielle and I had a blast! She loved to squish the play dough between her fingers and say "Ewww!"

I found the recipe on Lovely Design (she's got some really fun ideas!) and it turned out great! I made the yellow one first, and I think that one turned out the best. My one caution is this: put the flour in a little bit at a time! With the yellow one I did just that because I didn't know how much I needed. But with the red one (the second one I did) I got cocky and thought I knew what I was doing. Well, that one turned out hard and grainy. So my third one, the blue one, I did the flour slowly and it turned out great again! I used a wire wisk at first while putting the flour in so that it didn't stay all clumpy. Then used a spoon when it was too thick.

Here's the recipe (it's also on the link above):

2 c water
1 c salt
food coloring
4 tsp cream of tartar
4 TBSP oil
2 c flour
(I didn't have enough salt to do even one batch, so I quartered the batch and got 3 colors! And it's the perfect amount for Brielle's little hands!)

- Combine water, salt, cream of tartar and food coloring (.5 tsp for pastel color and 1.5 tbsp for vivid color) in a large saucepan.

- Cook on low heat and stir. As the mixture heats up, stir in the oil and then the flour slowly.

- Keep Stirring the mixture until it starts looking dry and pulling away from the pan. Remove from heat and pinch a piece between two fingers. If it is not sticky, it is done. Otherwise, continue stirring over low heat.

- Place the dough on counter and knead until smooth. Children will enjoy kneading the warm dough when it cools enough for them, too!

- When finished playing, store playclay in an airtight container or plastic bag to re-use again and again. Do not refrigerate.

* For children who cannot tolerate gluten or food colouring, you may subsitute rice flour for flour and use natural beet (red), spinach (green) or carrot (orange) juice for colour.

Enjoy!!