Home-made Playdough

08/13/2018

So right now my kids are going through a phase where they love anything squishy. Playdough, slime, you name it, we probably have it or have done it. Often though my kids have a habit of letting their slimy and squishy crafts dry up and let me be completely honest, I’ve grown tired of having to go out and buy new playdough every other day.

So, I’ve been searching for some recipes to create my own playdough, and have the kids even help me to create it. However, I’ve been through many recipes and some work better than others for me. Although it could just be my craft making skills that make my playdough suck.

Today, though, I’m sharing with you a recipe that was passed to me from my aunt. She swears by this recipe. I haven’t personally created it, but she says it’s the same recipe she used when I was a kid, so gotta trust her judgment!

So below, is the list of ingredients to make the playdough…

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
• food colouring

After gathering all the ingredients, you can start making your playdough. Keep in mind that the recipe I have given you makes a ton, so it’s good if you have lots of kids who want to play with it!

Let’s begin making our playdough!

In a 2 quart saucepan, add 1 cup of flour, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and 1/3 cup of salt (Apparently the salt keeps it from sticking and also helps preserve it, so you definitely want that in there). Then, add 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Turn your burner on medium/low and stir. My aunt tells me that it will be a little lumpy. That’s perfectly okay!

Keep stirring until it starts getting a little solid. If there are still a few lumps, that’s ok – you can work them out later. If your stove is already hot, this may only take 20-30 seconds, but it may take 2-3 minutes if it’s still heating up.  Once it reaches that point where it’s getting solid, add the food coloring right away. It will be much easier to mix up if you do it now. As you keep stirring, the playdough will get a little thicker and a little less lumpy. Once the dough starts gathering together around the spoon you know it’s done. This may take between 20 seconds to 2 minutes from the time you put the food colouring in, again depending on how hot your stove is.

Remove your playdough from your saucepan and place it onto a cookie sheet. (Don’t forget to put wax paper down first). Once cooled, knead it around in your hands and then being to play with it! Once you’re done playing with it, store it in a seal tight container to avoid drying out. If it dries out, try squirting a few drops of water into the playdough to soften it up!