flour, oil, water, salt, cream of tartar, and optional food coloringstarted measuring and cooking, from atop our "Learning Tower" pulled up to the counter...
and stirred and stirred. Looked kinda gross and goopy at one point...
but we kept stirring (near the end, "we" turned into "I" because it was way too thick for the girls to stir!), let it cool, and it was ready for play! Well, after we colored half of it pink and the other half purple of course...
One week later and it's still nice and pliable. Seems a little softer than the commercial stuff, but Heidi is in a phase where all she makes is snakes anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. It's perfect for making snakes of all shapes and sizes...
Heidi (pre-hair-cut) and her "snake forest"So need an idea for a rainy day? Try this out - it was a lot easier than I thought. (I bet there are recipes out there that don't use cream of tartar if you don't happen to have any. There are also no-cook ones, but I've read that they produce a grainier dough.) One thing I will point out: this uses a whole cup of salt. What's that phrase about rubbing salt in wounds? A couple days ago, Heidi had a little torn hangnail on her finger and cried a little when she first started playing with the stuff. I assume the salt was hurting her cut. Just something to think about if you're going to try this...
Homemade Playdough
2 c. flour
1 c. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
2 Tbsp. oil
2 c. water
1 tsp. food coloring
Mix ingredients in saucepan over medium heat while stirring constantly. It's done when it starts to leave sides of pan. (It didn't really do this, at least not like I was expecting it to, like bread dough for example. So I just pulled it off when it seemed done. Maybe it wasn't long enough. But it was getting really hard to stir.) Remove from saucepan. Knead for a few minutes when cool enough to touch. Store in covered container.
2 c. flour
1 c. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
2 Tbsp. oil
2 c. water
1 tsp. food coloring
Mix ingredients in saucepan over medium heat while stirring constantly. It's done when it starts to leave sides of pan. (It didn't really do this, at least not like I was expecting it to, like bread dough for example. So I just pulled it off when it seemed done. Maybe it wasn't long enough. But it was getting really hard to stir.) Remove from saucepan. Knead for a few minutes when cool enough to touch. Store in covered container.
I have a great recipe for homemade clay that uses cornstarch and no salt, so it's gentle on little hands. I'll have to dig it up for you. =)
ReplyDeleteOooh, that would be great!
ReplyDelete