Summer Fun = Art and Science in the Kitchen!

Grandma’s Play Dough

3 cups white flour

1 ½ cups finely ground table salt

6 teaspoons cream of tarter powder

3 Tablespoons oil

3 cups of water

Put all dry ingredients into a large saucepan and mix with a spoon.  Add wet ingredients and mix again.  Place saucepan over medium-high heat and stir constantly until mixture really dries out, begins to pull away from the saucepan sides, and forms a big glop in the middle.  Be careful not to burn!

Knead dough on a cold hard surface until it reaches the soft consistency you would expect of play dough.  Knead drops of food coloring into your dough to make different colored play dough.  Store your dough in zip-lock baggies in the fridge for weeks and weeks of play.

Background:

So, one of my moms is a school teacher.  Well, I guess now she is a superintendent of a whole school district, but she started out as a pre-school teacher when we first met and once you’re a teacher, you’re always a teacher I think!

Anyways, we’ve all heard that teachers aren’t very well paid, I’m sure.  Head Start Preschool teacher pay and classroom supply budgets are probably as low as it gets, making my mom rather resourceful and creative when it came to thinking of ways to teach and entertain children, including her own at home.

One of my earliest kitchen activities was making this play dough recipe above.  I remember my total amazement as I watched such few simple ingredients from the pantry turn into so many hours of fun for my step-siblings and I without ever having to leave the house!  I pulled this trick out at one of my first play dates as a mom, and was once again amazed and how well this little recipe entertained 5 multi-aged children, and at how well all 5 children worked together to make the dough and then play with it.

This afternoon, my daughter asked if she could play with “plasticina” our Spanish word for play dough.  Alas, the play dough container she found was empty.  No worries I told her, we would make our own!  Both kids were delighted, especially my son, who actually remembered his play date so long ago when he had helped make it before.  This activity took us from the end of lunch through to nap time, and both children went down for their naps anticipating a renewal of creative play after dinner tonight (if they eat all their dinner, of course).

I hope your families will enjoy Grandma’s Play Dough recipe and activity as much as ours!

Additional Notes:

Knead color into your play dough on a color safe surface.  Food coloring can stain clothing, so keep that in mind with the little ones!

Teach your children about primary colors!  Make red, yellow, and blue play dough balls, then let them mix bits of each together to discover new colors.  To get started, remember that:  red + yellow = orange and blue + yellow = green

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