Monday, November 24, 2008

Homemade Play Dough


I enjoy making this homemade play dough. I think my favorite part is creating the colors! The texture is wonderful. You can make several batches in different colors and package them up in cute containers to have quick gifts for playmates.

This is also a great opportunity to introduce measuring and the color wheel to your kids - they can help add the food coloring to discover how colors mix!

Homemade Play Dough Recipe
makes about 2.5 Cups

1 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 cups of salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 TB vegetable oil
1/2 TB cream of tarter
food coloring - I use the liquid kind

Mix all of the ingredients into a saucepan. Add the food coloring to your liking. - Kids can help with this step

Adults only -
Set your stove top to medium-low (about a 2.5 on a glass top stove). Stand by the pan and stir occasionally. When the batter look is gone and the ingredients start staying together when you stir (5-8 minutes), remove the pan from the heat. Lay out some wax paper and scoop play dough onto the wax paper. I can usually start kneading right away, but make sure that you check the dough for heat - you don't want to burn yourself!
Once the dough has been kneaded into a nice texture, place in an airtight container or zip lock. The snack sized zip locks work beautifully.