COOK UP SOME PLAY DOUGH
How much fun is it to take powdery solid foods and mix them with liquids and produce a squishy and moldable toy? A lot!
This cooked recipe dates back to one of our son’s babysitters, when he was two and three years old. You can find alternative cooked and uncooked recipes on the Internet, but we like this one because it is silky and soft, and keeps for a long time in the refrigerator in a plastic bag or wrap.
Ingredients:
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1 cup flour
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½ cup salt
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1 cup water
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3 teaspoons cream of tartar
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1 tablespoon cooking oil
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Optional: food coloring or washable paint that is not dangerous for a child if it is ingested
(Tip: One of the recipes we found says you can substitute 2 teaspoons of either white wine vinegar or lemon juice for each teaspoon of cream of tartar, but then you will need to adjust the thickness with a little more flour.)
Off the stove, combine the dry ingredients in a pot, and then add the liquids, stirring until it is smooth. Cook over low heat as little as possible, just until it holds together in a ball – approximately 5 minutes for us. It is fun to watch it thicken and see how hard it gets to stir.
Let it cool a bit (5-10 minutes), then knead it.
You can add coloring while it is in the pot. Or separate the ball of playdough into smaller balls, poke a hole part way into each one and drop a little food coloring into the hole. Then knead each smaller ball to spread the coloring throughout it. (We used rubber gloves while kneading the colored dough until the food coloring was entirely absorbed, to avoid getting stains on our hands.)