Play Dough

You will need:

1 1/2 cups water
1 saucepan
3/4 cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Waxed paper
2 tablespoons food coloring
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vanilla extract (optional)

The adult should bring the water to boil in the saucepan, turn the burner down to its lowest setting, and then add salt to the boiling water. Slowly stir in cream of tartar, vegetable oil, and flour in that order (if your child is old enough, you can have her measure out these ingredients for you). Keep stirring until the concoction has the consistency of mashed potatoes. If the play dough seems too dry, continue to add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency. If too wet, continue to stir the recipe over a low burner. Allow the dough to cool and spoon it onto waxed paper. Help your child knead the dough and add the food coloring as she mixes it. You may want to separate your dough into two even batches and use 1 tablespoon food coloring for half of the batch and 1 tablespoon of another color for the other half of the batch. Homemade play dough picks up the scents of objects it touches (especially skin oils), so you may want to add a teaspoon of lemon juice or vanilla extract at this point to keep it smelling nice.

Recipe Tips:

This play dough is just as pliable as the store-bought stuff, but it tends to dry out after a month. Keep it stored in the refrigerator in yogurt or sour cream containers. If it dries out in less than a month, just add a few drops of water.

If your child wants to save the play dough creations, you can harden the dough by either air-drying it for a few days or baking it at 300 degrees for ten minutes. You can paint the hardened dough with watercolors if desired.


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