Homemade Playdough

It’s been quite a while since I have shared a recipe and now I’m going to share one that isn’t even for eating.

Last week, Nora and I made our first ever batch of play dough.  I was inspired back in December by the homemade play dough at Miss O’s birthday party, which was identical in texture and pliability to the store bought stuff, but made of much less questionable ingredients.  Of course, I lost the recipe Miss O’s mama gave me and then with all the craziness of travel and holidays, homemade play dough was put to the back burner.  Then, for Valentine’s Day, Nora received an itty bitty tub of actual play dough and seeing how much she enjoyed it, I decided to final try to make some on our own.  After digging around online, I found the following recipe which turned out perfectly:

Homemade Play Dough

Ingredients:

• 2 cups AP flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp. cooking oil (I used canola)
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• food coloring, as needed

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pot and stir to combine.  Slowly cook over medium-low heat, siring constantly with a wooden spoon, until dough reaches desired consistency.  Remove from pot and cool completely before play.  Store in an air tight container at room temperature.  Makes 3-4 cups.

Play dough is now a staple in our house, getting played with every day.  I’m surprised at how long Nora is interested in sitting at the table to roll, knead, sculpt, and cut.  She especially likes using our large collection of cookie cutters to cut out animals and shapes, which made me think alphabet cookie cutters would be a good investment for teaching letters as we play.  I love how easy this recipe is, and since play dough is good for learning and motor development and lots of fun, this might enter into our homemade gift rotation.