.homemade playdough.

First of all, I have to consider this project a somewhat disaster. I took a basic homemade playdough recipe, however, I substituted wheat flour. What was I thinking? I mean, it came out okay, and the kids do love it...but the color was definitely affected by the darker flour. Vibrant greens and blues turned out blah and not so fun. And although the recipe says kids won't eat it because of all the salt (1/2 cup!), guess whose daughter thought it was snack time. Yes...little miss Kaiya was munching away as the other kids sat there playdoughing away. Oyyy.  

I used the Playclay recipe from MaryAnn Kohl's First Art book.  I did a bunch of batches of the single serving recipe.  All you need is:
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup flour (totally using white next time!)
food coloring
Just combine the water, salt, cream of tartar and food coloring in a large pot over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon.  As the mixture heats up, stir in the oil, and then slowly add in the flour.  Keep stirring until the mixture starts looking dry and pulling away from the sides of the pot.  Remove from heat.  When you pinch a little piece with your fingers, it should NOT be sticky.  If it is, keep stirring over heat.  Place the dough on a flat surface and need until smooth.  Voila...playdough!  Or Playclay.  Whatevs.

 I made around 5 different colors, thats all that I could get out of the tiny cream of tartar container I bought from WalMart.  I made them about a month ago, and the kids just played with them last week.  So like she says in the book, it lasts quite a while.  Actually...Kaytin and Caleb played with the dough and Kaiya drew with markers because as we learned earlier...she's the play dough eating monster.