twolittleajs: Home made Autumnal Play dough

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Home made Autumnal Play dough

I have seen so many recipes and ways of making Play dough, and even seen another person make it, but have never had a go myself! So I decided after seeing recently a post from Nurture store that it was about time I tried, well we tried!

A friend of mine gave me a recipe for a microwavable version, which sounded more appealing to attempt with toddler in tow compared to the stove top method.

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp oil

mix together, microwave on full power for 1 min, stir and repeat. Once it looks play doughy reduce time to 30 secs, when it looks right tip out to cool, then knead well adding colours / smells / glitters etc.

I let Arthur mix all the ingredients together, then once the microwave came into play I took over as it did get quite hot.

I then divided it into four balls, added nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice to the balls and then ready mixed paint for colour. I could have made the colours and smells stronger but as it was my first attempt I left it quite mild, but Arthur didn't seem to mind and was very excited to play!

I think I was getting carried away and having just as much fun as the two Aj's whilst playing with the dough, I added the leaves and bits from our Super quick natural sensory bin from yesterday for added fun. I made a tree, (sort of) and a hedgehog (of sorts!) to help encourage Arthur to make more things with the play dough other thn just cutting it, which is also good for his motor skills! Big mistake as next he was saying make a rabbit, make a tree, and playing away with all the pieces nicely. Then came make a Starfish, make a shark! Not quite fitting in with the woodland / autumnal theme, but then who am I to stifle his imagination, mummy did as mummy was told!!

It was so nice playing with the scented play dough, much nicer then the shop bought stuff, and the smells and colour theme really added to the play, also now I know how cheap quick and easy it is to make, I'm not so worried about Arthur mixing it all together into an unusable brownish lump, so my fear of him using more than one colour at a time is over!