Thursday, February 7, 2008

Homemade Playdough


Who said it couldn’t be as good as the store-bought stuff? Because this stuff is good. It feels soft and moist in your hands, like supple plastic you can mold into any shape your imagination suggests. And fun not only for the under-four year old set … this recent batch of playdough had me thinking about a party with 20 or 30-somethings sitting around a table happily chatting with hands busy creating lizards, lions, lassos and lollipops. Or whatever. So I might not be the most raucous partier, but this sounds like a fun and potentially therapeutic party experience.

I found this recipe for ‘Traditional Playdough’ online and did not modify the ratios, but have added more detail to the instructions. My favorite part of the recipe: The kneading of hot/warm playdough makes for a dreamy hand relaxation experience.

Who knows, maybe someday my son will wonder why other kid’s playdough isn’t as cool as his homemade variety?



Traditional Playdough … for ALL ages

The first, second … sixth, well I think no matter how many times you make this recipe the transition of this combination of ingredients from a soupy to solid state will remain a magical mystery. We bought the McCormick brand of food coloring and used the color ratios on the box for white icing – which worked great.

Servings: ~ 2 cups of playdough (1 color)
Cost: $0.67
Time: 15 minutes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vegetable oil
¼ cup salt
Food Coloring

In your (not best) saucepan mix all ingredients except food coloring using a spoon, spatula or whisk. The more you incorporate all the lumps at this stage the fewer white chunks you will have in your final playdough (a homemade product give away). Add food coloring according to package directions or your artistic inspiration. Mix until color is evenly incorporated. Place pan over medium heat and stir continuously with spoon or heat resistant spatula, scraping dough from bottom of pan as it transitions to a solid state. As it cooks, solid chunks from the bottom of the pan will loosen and incorporate into the mixture. Remove the pan from the heat when the entire mass becomes solid. Remove the dough from the pan and knead the dough until smooth. Place in a plastic bag or air tight container. My first batch is over one month old and still going strong.

Play.

5 comments:

Emily said...

testing. 1, 2, 3.
Anyone out there?

Bryn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bryn said...

oh i was sad when i saw there was already a comment because i wanted to be the first one, but now i'm glad to see it was just emily :)

i got to play with this stuff last night and i was amazed - i really do think it is better than the stuff you buy (although i admit i haven't played with it in maybe 20+ years?). but i can't imagine it being any better. so i can vouch for emily that it is both fun for 28 year olds as well as 22 month olds. your son was seriously digging it, he was feeding the yellow cows mad amounts of red playdough (he was also nice enough to pretend that the "cows" that i tried to make really looked like cows - i guess that would be my only complaint about the play dough - it does not magically bestow sculpting skills on someone with no such skills). it even held together to make a tunnel for his train to go through! nice one em - thanks for letting me play with it and with your really really cool and lucky son...

Unknown said...

Gotta say, this is some awesome playdough. Wonderful consistency, stays fresh forever, and provides hours of entertainment!! And none of that funky smell that comes with some of the store-bought brands. Yet another wonderful recipe from the Thrifty Kitchen!

Emily said...

just wanted to say that this recipe is still holding strong after 2 months! crazy.