I introduced playdough to my girl a few months ago, but it wasn’t until she turned two that she really, really got into it.
Playdough is fantastic for imaginative play, fine motor skills and well, keeping your kid occupied while you cook dinner. Look, she might even make you a wrap with arugula and cheese while you’re at it!
Looks tasty, right? 🙂
One annoying thing about playdough is its tendency to dry out quickly. We have a lot of little tubs of Play-doh, and even if we remember to put it back into the tub each time, it still starts getting dry in a matter of days, and that’s not as fun to play with. Of course, half the time we forget and leave it out and come back to an icky, crusty chunk of dough that is not pliable at all. No fun. Also, the tubs of Play-doh are so unsatisfyingly small. You can barely shape a strawberry out of one before you run out!
I’m so over that. Now I can use a few simple pantry ingredients to make a HUGE ball of playdough that she can make a grand feast with! Now she has huge hunks of “bread” that she can really cut through with a plastic knife, and lots of pasta “dough” to extrude noodles with. It is so satisfying to have a huge hunk of dough :). I also like that we can make it whatever color we want (although our purple one pictured above came out kind of muddy looking).
She helped me make it last time, and she learned so many fun things through the process! Some examples:
- scooping and leveling flour
- stirring
- pouring water carefully
- red and blue mix together to make… PURPLE!!! PUR-PO MAMA, PUR-PO!!!
- heat causes chemical reactions (okay she might not totally grasp this concept yet, but it was a great introduction to it!)
- how to knead dough
It was a great morning activity and we still have a moist blob of playdough to show for it. I also feel like mom of the year, so that counts for something, too. If it’s your first time, I’d suggest starting the the quarter recipe and making more in the future if you like. Enjoy!!
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Preschool Playdough
Ingredients:
Full recipe:
- 6 cups flour
- 6 cups water
- 3 cups salt
- 1 can cream of tartar
- 3/4 cups oil
1/4 recipe:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3/4 cups salt
- 1 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
- 3 tbsp oil
- food coloring
Instructions:
- Add desired amount of food coloring (optional), and combine all ingredients thoroughly and cook on stove over medium heat, stirring with a heatproof spatula until a ball forms.
- Turn out onto floured board and knead. Store in airtight container.
2 responses to “Play Dough Recipe”
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Now that’s an idea- will have to include the toddler next time I make a batch to make it more fun.
You can also try using some natural ingredients to color, like turmeric powder for yellow (it might have a scent so you can balance it with some essential oils), cocoa powder for brown…we have yet to try beet juice and green tea powder
Wow, those are great ideas! Mmm chocolate-scented playdough. Now there is a fantastic idea! 😀