Playdough

Playdough

My girls love to play with playdough. However, the commercial ones are expensive, stick everywhere and have a funny smell. Worst of all, they don't last long since the kids mix everything up and sometimes leave them out too long, causing them to dry up.

Since the ingredients for playdough are all things I have at home, I decided to make my own playdough instead. Not only is it cheaper, I can make all kinds of different colours and even add fragrance using essential oils. For relaxing play before bedtime, try lavender and chamomile essential oils. For energising play, try peppermint oil. You can leave the dough unfragranced, but there may be a mild vegetable oil smell, depending on what oil you use.

Today instead of food colouring, I use fine glitter and micas to colour the dough. The colourings I use are makeup grade, and safe for eyes, lips, nails, etc. You can't see it from the picture, but the dough is slightly metallic and glittery.

The following recipe has been adapted for the themomix, but you can do it by hand just as easily. Just mix the dry ingredients in a bowl then bour in the boiling water, stir to form a loose dough, then knead by hand till smooth. The dough will keep well for several days and remain soft if you keep it in an airtight container. The cream of tartar and salt may seem like alot, but don't reduce the amount as these will help prevent mould from growing.

Playdough

INGREDIENTS

220g plain flour
50g cream of tartar
20g cooking oil
220g salt
500ml water
food colouring
few drop of essential oil (optional)

METHOD

1. Pour salt and water into the TM bowl, heat 5 mins at 100°C, speed stir.
2. Once the water boils, add the rest of the ingredients (except the colouring and essential oil) into the water and mix 1-2 mins on speed 4-5 until a dough forms.
3. Seperate into smaller portions and knead in colouring and essential oil until you get your desired colour and level of fragrance.