Play Dough for Christmas

Here is another idea for an inexpensive Christmas gift for preschoolers that will be enjoyed until it has been used up—homemade play dough. There are many variations on homemade play dough. They all have either flour or cornstarch, baking soda or salt, and water. Some recipes call for oil. Alum or cream of tartar is often added to help prevent mold. Food color can be added to any of the recipes. One recipe that I have tried has kool-aide for color and smell and another uses flavored gelatin. Most of the play dough recipes I have liked best are cooked. Here is one example. It takes less than 10 minutes to make

2 cups of plain flour


1 cup of salt

1 teaspoon cream of tartar


2 cups of colored water


1 tablespoon oil

Place dry ingredients in a medium size pan and combine. Add the 2 cups of colored water and oil. Stir and cook slowly on medium-high until the playdough thickens. After it cools enough to handle, knead until smooth. It keeps best in your refrigerator in plastic containers or a plastic bag. I’ve kept it out of the refrigerator for a few weeks.

To find other variations that I mentioned you can look on the web, playdoughrecipe.com

Song

Christmas cookies

Christmas cookies

Mom just baked

Mom just baked

A star, a bell, a tree

A star, a bell, a tree

I’ll eat all three

I’ll eat all three

tune of Frerer Jacques