Playdough Fun ♥

Playdough is such fun for kids to play with. Squidgy & colourful, it really is amazing stuff for moulding & creating all kinds of shapes with, & it's managed to keep children entertained for decades. I remember having a Play-Doh Barber Shop & loving the texture & flexibility of styling the little characters by squeezing the clay through their plastic heads so they sprout crazy spaghetti hair.

At home though, Lula's always ends up getting mixed together into a big brown blob (which seriously messes with my OCD) or left to dry out in to a crumbly mess & I never get around to buying more.

It was apparently originally created as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930's. It evolved over the years & was eventually marketed at children in the 1950's. The original trademarked modelling clay recipe is obviously a closely guarded secret, like the Coke formula & KFC seasoning,  but you can buy it ready-made all over the place, BUT....

It's actually so easy & fun to make at home. After making this batch I'll definitely make more rather than buying shop versions.
We had a whole rainbow selection of gel food colourings leftover from Lula's 2nd birthday rainbow cake to use & added glitter to one of them too. Neon colours would be very cool to try I think.

Most Playdough recipes seem to require Cream of Tartar in the list of ingredients (whatever that is?), but there are some that I found online that don't. They either simply leave out that item or replace it & change the formula up a bit.

I found this one which uses vinegar instead & it worked just fine (just remind your child that it's not like normal baking & licking the spoon is not recommended!)

1 Cup plain flour
1/4 Cup salt
3Ttsp vinegar
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 Cup water
Food colouring (glitter optional)

Measure out your dry ingredients in to a pan

Add water & stir together over a low heat until you get a doughy texture. 

(The instructions said to whisk the water into the dry ingredients over a low heat - but I managed to break the whisk in the process. It's a little like trying to whisk cement, so I'd suggest using a spatula to be safe.)

Meanwhile choose your colours!

Once it's the right consistency, squish it together & knead.

This recipe makes enough for 3 decent sized balls of dough, so divide it up.

Add a  drop or 2 of food colouring

And work the colour through the dough until it's all mixed in.

Next we did purple.....

with extra sparkly glitter bits!

Tah Dah!

Gorgeous blobs of bright dough ready to play & let little imaginations go wild.

This was one of Lula's creations. A bakery selection : cup cakes & sweeties for the teddies x

Lula loves using biscuit cutters & making play food from her colourful doughs & made such a cute little man sculpture too. But here's a whole lot of ideas to inspire your little artists & build those fine motor skills. It would also make a sweet pressie for little friends. Put them in jars decorated with washi tape or stickers.

Get mixing

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