Homemade Play Dough

Making homemade play dough is the easiest activity to do with kids. The dough cooks up in minutes, cools a bit and then can be customized with colors, glitter and different extracts or scented oils. The recipe is so simple, and only takes basic pantry staples. This recipe is exactly like the play dough my Mom used to make for my sister and I when I was little. I’ve tried other no-cook recipes, but none measure up to this stuff.

Sassy and Cookie Dough (the show girls you saw a lot of last summer) are due to pig within the month. They still tromp through the snow to harass me and get some scratches.

It has been so brutally cold lately, no one is in a good mood. They’ll be excited to head into the warm farrowing room soon. We’ve got pigs that will be weaned next week, to make room for the next round of gals that will farrow. (*to farrow: when pigs have their babies)

Other things going on… (and no, there is no pig semen in our play dough recipe!) **We received some pig semen in the mail that got hung up an extra COLD day in the eastern part of the US during their recent blizzard (around here, we call that a minor dusting of snow). We were planning on breeding some sows with it, but not before we checked the quality. My husband got the microscope out to check the semen to see if any of the little swimmers were still… umm… swimming.  No activity. The box got too cold during the shipping process. We did have some fresh semen from another boar that the kids got to check out. They were so interested in seeing the activity on the slide… I was more concerned that they NOT get anything on their hands before breakfast… ew.

Homemade Play Dough. Yes.

I’ll go over a few step by step directions first, then the full recipe will be at the end of the post.

First thing: Toss all ingredients into a medium saucepan. This was right before I tossed the water in… Once the water goes in, get right to stirring.

Next, cook over medium to medium high heat (6.5/10) for about 3 minutes, until the mixture firms up like you see below. I’ve read places that encourage you to cook to the consistency of mashed potatoes… don’t do that.  Your play dough will be too sticky.  Cook until thick, like you see below. Remove from heat. Dough will be warm, let rest a few minutes.

Divide dough in half (if you have 2 kids like me). Flatten dough a bit, add food coloring (15 drops per each half of dough).

Knead like you are a frontier woman working a batch of bread dough, until the color is well incorporated.

Don’t hesitate… PLAY! (Blue dough for her.)

“John Deere” colored dough for him.

This provided entertainment for almost an hour!

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Homemade Play Dough

Author: Cristen

Ingredients

• 2 C All Purpose Flour
• 1 C Salt
• 1 t Cream of Tartar
• 2 T Vegetable Oil
• 2 C Warm Water

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan, combine flour, salt and cream of tartar. Stir to combine.
• Add oil and warm water, stir well.  Place saucepan over medium to medium high heat (6.5/10) and cook dough for about 3 minutes, until pliable yet firm.
• Turn out on counter top, let cool a few minutes. Divide dough in half, if desired.
• Color accordingly with food coloring (15 drops per half of dough). Add glitter, scented oils or extracts to further customize.