One Simple Thing - Tuesday - Play Dough Recipe

Today, make your own non-toxic play dough using simple ingredients!

Once the play dough is ready, cut a few plastic straws into pieces of uneven length for your child to use while working with the play dough. These pieces can become antlers, tails, or whatever else you and she can imagine for your play dough creations.

Have fun talking about the creatures you create, while building language and fine-motor skills!

Here is the recipe we used all the time when I was teaching preschool:

Combine in a heavy saucepan:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup of salt
4 teaspoons Cream of Tartar (buy in bulk or at the Dollar Store)

Add:
2 cups of water
4-5 drops of food coloring of your choice

Stir until lumps disappear. Add 3 Tablespoons of vegetable or corn oil and heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly.
This will take a lot of elbow grease as the ingredients turn into a heavy ball of dough. Make sure to keep stirring so none of the dough touches the bottom of the pan for too long. Once the play dough has the consistency of pizza dough, take it out of the pan and begin kneading it until it is smooth. Repeat to make as many colors as you would like! Store in an airtight container.

Several colors of this non-toxic dough, along with some cookie cutters, and a dollar store silicon mat, make a great birthday gift!

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