more play, less doh

 

Have you ever made play doh?  A while back I called my mom for a recipe to make some for the kids.  It is really basic…

I forgot to put the secret ingredient in that picture!  Kool-Aid!!!  It makes it smell delicious, and makes it so colorful!

After I bought the Kool-Aid, I decided to make a couple more batches so I had to use the food coloring.  It is the yellow and green; not as bright and just smells like flour.  :(  Trust me the Kool-Aid rocks.

They did not love waiting for me to take pictures of it for the blog before they were allowed to play with it.  =)

They had stuffed all our store bought play doh into one of the play doh toys and it dried hard as a rock and we couldn’t even open the toy, let alone get the play doh out.  The whole thing went in the trash.  But after a while I needed something to occupy their little hands again so I decided to make some more.  Though I had been dreading making it, I finally did it and was pleasantly surprised!  It was so easy!

Recipe for Homemade PlayDoh

    1 cup flour

    1/2 cup salt

    1 teaspoon cream of tartar

    2 tablespoons vegetable oil

    1 packet Kool-Aid (for color and scent!)

    1 cup water

1. Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.

2. Initial texture will be like pancake batter.  When texture suddenly changes to that of sticky mashed potatoes, remove from heat.

3.  Dump out onto breadboard, cool, and knead a little.  Store in airtight containers.

I gave each kid one container with their name on it and we drew names for colors.  They decided to keep the colors nice and not mix them (after my own heart!).  They have loved it and they say they like it better than the store bought kind.  It smells delicious!  I feel like it doesn’t dry up as fast as store bought.    I love how the house smells all fruity when they play with it.  Each one of those containers is one recipe.

For toys, I am not buying any more plastic PlayDoh toys that clog, break, and bend.  I purchased these a while back at Ikea for the kids’ kitchen and right now we are keeping them with the play doh instead  =)  …

The DUKTIG 7-piece baking set is $9.99 and the DUKTIG 5-piece kitchen utensil set is $3.99.  They’re going to last longer than the PlayDoh stuff ad they’re about the same price.

Am I the last one to jump on the homeade play doh band wagon?!