How to Make Homemade Play Dough

"Pretty soon, all your friends will be married with kids and the only friend you'll have left is your cousin's baby," said my mom, who was giving me one of her many old maid lectures.


And literally right then and there, in strolled baby M, cousin t's daughter. (Cousin t, lower case, is not to be confused with Oregon cousin T, upper case.) The oldest '87 had a lunch date and figured baby M would want to play with me, or maybe she just didn't feel like babysitting?

Baby M immediately headed into my kitchen, where I kept my mini pots and pans set. Yes, it's mine! I only let baby M play with it when she comes over. ;)

Instead of pretending to eat tasty "air," I decided to make her some play dough. I halved the recipe and divided it into two for two colors. I also didn't have any Kool-Aid on hand so just ordinary food coloring was fine. Boiling water wasn't needed either.


Homemade Play Dough
Adapted from Creative Kids at Home's Kool-Aid Play Dough

For two 1/2 cup size portions of play dough, you'll need:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2/3 cup hot water
2 tblsp oil
6 drops or so of each food color

In each of two bowls, add 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup salt, 1/3 cup hot water, 1 tblsp oil, and about 6 drops of the food coloring of your choice. Green and red worked well for me. I've tried it with blue and you'll need a lot or else the color ends up rather gray.

Mix the dough for several minutes until it comes together. You might need to add a bit more water or flour or salt if things don't appear right. The oil is necessary to keep things from getting too sticky.

You should eventually get a lump of dough that looks like what you see below.


At first, baby M was afraid to touch it. So she poked the play dough with various spoons and utensils.


Then once I whipped out my cookie cutters, she really started having fun. Kept her occupied for hours.






Store the play dough in a Ziploc bag in the fridge. The oil might start to separate so you may have to knead the dough again before playing with it. It should be good for several days.

And don't accidentally fall asleep or you might wake up to find green play dough embedded in your carpet. Not that I know anything about that. Uh, huh.

If you don't want to make play dough, dry pasta and beans works well too. Just remember to choose larger shapes such as penne or bowtie pasta. Rice and star pasta might seem like fun, but are a pain to clean up.


"Auntie, play pasta," says baby M.

Aww, how cute! You ain't seen nothing yet. She also learned to say, "rolling pin." Stay tuned for chocolate ginger cookies, so easy even a 2-year-old can make them.

Who else made homemade play dough?
Susan of Open Mouth, Insert Fork has a cooked version.

My other non-edible recipes:
Laundry Detergent
Sugar Body Scrub

*****
1 year ago today, Jamaica (Hibiscus Tea).
2 years ago today, the perfect bowl of ramen and meltingly tender pork at Daikokuya Original Noodle & Rice-Bowl - Los Angeles (Little Tokyo).