Homemade Play Dough Recipe

My toddler is currently all about the Play Doh. My highly sensitive pregnancy sniffer, not so much. Everyday she asks me to "pay pay doh," and everyday I tell her that daddy will be oh-so-happy to play Play Doh when he gets home. Because, let me be clear, I cannot stand the smell of that stuff ... at least, not right now. However, I am starting to feel a little guilty about constantly saying no to Natalie's request. I am even starting to feel kind of bad about pawning off the Play Doh responsibilities to my sweet husband. In a guilt-stricken moment, I came up with the idea of making homemade play dough. I remember doing this as a kid, and the smell was decidedly different than the name brand stuff. So I thought I'd give it a try; thankfully, finding a recipe was easy.

While this recipe involves cooking, it is important to note that this is filed under FUN, not FOOD :)

What You'll Need:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsps. cream of tartar
• 1 Tbsp. cooking oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 cup water with food coloring*

What To Do:

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly until a firm ball is formed. Knead a few minutes. Store in an airtight container. This needs no refrigeration and will last a long time. It is not edible!

*I also read or heard - somewhere - that you can add Kool-aid to this concoction to give your homemade play dough color and fragrance. I didn't try this because I am drinking my Kool-Aid these days - one of my current pregnancy cravings - and didn't want to "waste" any on the play dough.

Teacher Thought: Use the play dough to practice those sorting skills - size and color. Make several "snakes" and ask, "Which is the longest? The shortest?" Do the same with balls of dough or shapes you "cut" with cookie cutters. (You can also count the dough shapes you make.)

Bit of Randomness: And while I was in the Play Doh frame-of-mind, I visited the website and found their Fresh Ideas link to be a rather refreshing ... and odor-free experience :) Each image even includes step-by-step directions and photos of each step - now that's serious Play Dohing!