DIY Playdough

On boy’s 3rd or 4th birthday (I’ve forgotten ), he was given a Play-Doh® set as gift. However children being children, they never keep their toys after playing. Yours truly couldn’t be bothered to clean up after them all the time. Slowly the Play-Doh® gets drier by the day. Actually we could’ve restored the softness by adding bits of water while kneading it at the same time. But hoh, when they could still play, means it is still pliable lor, therefore I think no need to add water yet. And when they don’t play I won’t know whether it has become too dry; who so EFNTD go and check everyday wor, right? So there, before you know it, the Play-Doh® has become rock-hard and there’s no turning back.  

After the experience above, I bought a cheapo 24-colour clay-dough (i.e plastacine) for them, thinking that it will never dry up. However, I’ve come to regret the decision later as the clay-dough gets under their nails everytime they play, thus unhygenic. Clay-dough is harder to model too, and the hands feel sticky after playing. Further more, if it sticks to the floor, cleaning is not as easy as cleaning the former. So, one day I threw it all away. 

Lately the children has been bugging me about wanting to play playdough because they still have the modeling molds. Since modeling dough is a creative activity for kids, I’ve decided to make a DIY-playdough through recipe from the internet. Yeah, most information nowadays is just at your fingertips  Google for it!

I’ve found one that’s simple and easy at this site. I quatered the recipe as this is my first try.  

Ingredients are:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon cream of tartar (to extend shelf life; up to 6 mo or more)

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook and stir over low/medium heat until play dough is completely formed and no longer sticks to pan. Allow to cool slightly, then knead it a bit to create a smooth dough. Add food colouring and continue kneading until the dough is uniformly coloured. Store in an air tight container or zip lock bag.

 

You’ll be surprised at how good this simple DIY playdough is. It is so soft and nice to knead; in my opinion it as good as the commercially sold type, if not better. You can make as many colours as you like. The best part is it is non-toxic. Cleaning up is easy too; just scrape off the dried bits from the floor and wipe with clean damp cloth.

 

Try it! Is’t fun!