Before Christmas, I tried out a play dough recipe I found, tweaked it a little to make them seasonal, and my kids have played with that play dough almost every day since. I keep it stored in the take out containers I bought on Amazon, and it hasn't dried out! (16 oz is the exact size for a full batch). It has even been left out for a few hours and easily kneaded back to its regular consistency.
My kids like to use plastic or laminated placemats to hold their play dough creations while working (and it makes for a little easier clean up! We've also used silicone baking sheet liners, but the laminated placemats store easily on the counter so they can get it out to play anytime. This is an EXCELLENT activity for them while I'm cooking dinner and need everyone away from the counters ha!
We made Sugar Cookie Play Dough (with green & red glitter mixed in!), Hot Cocoa Play Dough, with gold glitter mixed in, and Candy Cane Play Dough with red and silver glitter. But since it's now halfway through February, I figured it was time to make another batch in a new scent! We decided on Lavender and used Butterfly Pea Flowers to dye it a light purple/blue color. Beau said he wanted to help, and he was a wonderful helper!
So this is pretty simple, and takes about 30 minutes to put together. Beau helped me measure everything and get it all mixed. I took over when it was time to cook it on the stove, then handed it back when it cooled! This is the SOFTEST play dough ever, by the way!
Here's what we used for
Lavender Play Dough:
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1/3 cup salt
* 2 tsp cream of tartar (I've read that this is what helps play dough stay stretchy)
* 1 Tbs oil
* 1 1/2 cups water
* 6 or 7 dried Butterfly Pea flowers (for color, can use food coloring instead)
* 1 Tbs fried Lavender buds (for texture and scent)
* 5-6 drops Lavender essential oil (for scent)
If you plan to add food coloring at the end instead of using butterfly pea flowers, use room temperature water. If you're planning on using butterfly pea flowers for coloring, you'll need to boil the water and let the flowers steep in the water while you measure and mix everything else. Then remove the flower buds before using the water in the next step.
In a medium saucepan, stir together flour, salt, and cream of tartar. Add oil and water. Turn stovetop to low and stir this very sticky mixture often until the dough stops sticking to the pan and starts looking like play dough! It will start to change color slightly and look like it is drying out....keep heating a little longer! This part takes about 30 minutes. When done, plop the play dough onto a silicone baking sheet liner or a clean baking sheet, some aluminum foil, a plate...you get the idea! :) Let it cool so you don't burn your hands. Once cool, knead in lavender buds and essential oil.
For the other batches of play dough that we made in November, the basic recipe is the same.
Sugar Cookie Play Dough
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1/3 cup salt
* 2 tsp cream of tartar
* 1 tbs oil
* 1 Tbs vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups water
* glitter can be added in at the end to make it match any season
Hot Cocoa Playdough
* 1 1/4 cups flour
* 1/4 cup cocoa powder
* 1/3 cup salt
* 2 tsp cream of tartar
* 1 Tbs oil
* 1 1/2 cups water
Peppermint / Candy Cane Play Dough
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1/3 cup salt
* 2 tsp cream of tartar
* 1 tbs oil
* 1 Tbs peppermint extract
* 1 1/2 cups water
* a few drops of red food coloring can be kneaded in at the end
The lavender play dough is a full batch, around 16 oz. Sugar Cookie, Hot Cocoa, and Candy Cane are half batches, around 8 oz.
Keep these, a few placemats, and a couple of
plastic cookie cutters together for an easy activity! Peyton likes kneading it like she's making a loaf of bread (I guess she's been watching me!). Blake likes to make a "tray" of cookies on a placemat. Cole & Beau have made some pretty awesome gingerbread men (That would be another fun scent to make!)
If these colors get mixed and we're left with one big batch of grey Christmas scented play dough, I'll just have an excuse to make more! It's super simple and inexpensive. I used to get stressed out about play dough colors getting mixed up and being left with a whole pile greyish play dough...but one day a few years ago, Cole & I decided to mix some silver glitter into the play dough that had gotten all combined and we called it Space Play Dough! (Mixed together playdough that is starting to dry out also is a great material to use to make a model of a cave for a science experiment - also Cole's idea!)
What variety of homemade play dough should we make next? I really like the idea of using flowers or plants to color it...so I'm thinking a Dandelion play dough should be a good option soon, once there are more in bloom.....or Rose scented when our Roses start to bloom! Oh maybe use cold coffee in place of the water, but that might be more energizing instead of relaxing like the lavender! Lemon would be a fun summer scent as well, so I guess stay tuned to see what we try!
This link will take you to all my favorite kitchen things found on Amazon, including a lot of what I mentioned in this post.
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