How I Rocked The Homemade Playdough

Today Rella and I made homemade Gingerbread Playdough.  This is not something I would have conjured on my own, but I had volunteered to be in the preschool's "Playdough Club."  All that means is that a recipe is sent to a different Mom each month to make a batch of seasonal, fun, homemade playdough.  

I'm not a domestic diva so I was a bit daunted, especially when I saw there was 

a "cooking componet" to it.  

But, the recipe itself was SUPER easy and I actually had every single ingredient 

already in my pantry.

 Basic Playdough Recipe 

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 cup water

1 tsp. vegetable oil

1.  Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl.

2. Mix the liquid ingredients in another bowl.

3.  Stir the dry and liquid ingredients together then transfer to a pot.

4.  Cook on medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes STIRRING CONSTANTLY!

Note:  The mixture starts out as pure liquid then as it cooks and you stir it starts getting lumpy and weird and you think to yourself "Oh crap, this isn't working" but then it all comes together quite quickly to form playdough.  Mine only took 3 mins.

5. Remove dough onto working surface and knead until smooth and soft. 

6.  Cool and store in an airtight container.  

For Gingerbread 

playdough you just add:

Cinnamon, Ginger, AllSpice, and Nutmeg 

(no measurements, just until you get it to smell nice) 

Add these spices in the dry ingredients bowl before combining with the wet.  

The recipe yields about this much, more than what would fit in a store bought canister....

It smelled soooo good by the way.  

There is also a no cook recipe for homemade playdough where boiling water is used instead of a cooking on a stove top.  

Obviously you can just make your regular, generic brightly colored playdough with the basic recipe and food dye.

Apparently if you use KoolAid it not only gives you some vibrant hues but also a nice smell!

Be sure to store your dough in an airtight container.  

Personally, I feel that if I'm going to MAKE playdough I want it to be different and special, not like I just opened a store-bought container. 

I'm talkin' about the "Designer Playdough" if you will.  

Gussy up your regular basic playdough recipe by 

adding these scents and colors

***

Fall:  Pumpkin Playdough

Red and Yellow food coloring (to make Orange) and pumpkin pie spice

***

Winter:  Sparkling Snow Playdough

White (no coloring added) with silver glitter

***

Holidays:  Peppermint Playdough

Red food dye with peppermint extract and gold glitter

***

Spring:  Flower Garden Playdough

Purple coloring (Or Blue and Red together) with lavender oil and silver glitter

***

Summer:  Summer Sun Playdough

Yellow food dye with lemon extract and gold glitter

***

*Remember to add your dry ingredients (like spices) to the dry ingredient bowl and your wet  ingredients 

(like oils and food coloring) to your wet ingredients bowl.* 

I'm sooo doing this one:

Awesome Chocolate Playdough recipe On The Imagination Tree.  

She uses the "no cook" method and has the best ideas to play with it - check out how cute she gets with a big empty box of assorted chocolates!  

Lots of great ideas for sensory play on her blog too.  

So, I'm diggin' these seasonal, gourmet playdoughs that you cannot buy in stores.  They make a great rainy day activity and a wonderful Goody Bag treat for a birthday party!
It was so much fun, kid friendly, and insanely easy.  Plus, it's a money saver and you know I'm a girl who loves to save money!  So, of course, now I'm totally addicted.