The next time I brought out the play dough she played with it for another hour. When I had to take her away from it for a nap she was just beside herself. She cried herself to sleep she was so upset. She eventually gave me a couple high fives, but she was weepy when she fell asleep. The third time I pulled out her play dough I found out the difference between the name brand Play-Doh and the cheap stuff. It was crusty and drying quicker and quicker with each use.
I found a homemade recipe that seemed easy enough. Remembering the homemade play dough recipes of my youth I was worried that it would not be vibrantly coloured enough for my tastes. I was very wrong. The recipe I made turned out quite pretty even using the super cheap food colouring I had on hand. I only made two colours because each recipe makes quite a bit but you could make every colour of the rainbow if you have the room to store it. It lasts quite a while too so you will be storing it for some time.
After I made the play dough I realized I needed a place to store it and the bit and bobs we had collected to play with the play dough. We had found a couple small sand molds from her beach toys, some plastic tools from a birthday goodie bag, Christmas cookie cutters not to mention the things to put in the play dough like shells, buttons and feathers! To house the fun stuff I converted an old train case I had laying around by conditioning the faux snakeskin with canola oil and giving the inside a good wipe down. Than I duped in the toys, put the dough into sandwich bags and then a plastic ice cream container and voila! You have a portable play dough station.
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She plays with these toys at least three times a day. I think right now she is on her fourth time pulling it out. I put it away in between meals and other childish pursuits to keep the dough from drying out. The dough is great though, even if it does dry a bit you just knead it a couple seconds and you're good.
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Also, the train case latch is still in working order and she has not figured out how to open it so she can only play with the play dough when I give the ok. Which is every time as long as I have had at least one cup of coffee in the morning. And now for the recipe. I got this from a book of eco-friendly kids crafts called Green Crafts for Children by Emma Hardy published by Cico Books London & New York.
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoon cream of tartar (find it in the spice section)
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food coloring
Mix first 4 ingredients in a pan. Add food colouring to water and mix. Add water mixture to pan and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 – 5 minutes. Dough will become difficult to stir and form a “clump”. Remove from stove and knead for 5 minutes
This was so much fun. I stopped at two colours because it makes a lot of dough, but if you have lots of children to entertain you could keep going, the colour possibilities are endless.
Have fun sculpting!