When my daughter was 18 months old I thought it was time to try play-dough. I have to admit that I did not want to buy those fancy ones you can get in the stores. I was lucky, my little one did not put anything in her mouth, but still I thought it did matter what’s in the dough. So I searched the Internet and came up with a recipe which is just brilliant. It’s easy, cheap and quick, the dough is like the fancy ones you can buy and it is completely harmless, it does not harm your child in any way. Not to mention it can be cleaned easily, does not stain the clothes and can be washed out perfectly.
Let’s see what you need for approximately 1 kg play dough:
400 g plain flour
200 g salt – the cheapest you can get is perfect
2 tablespoon cooking oil
4 coffee spoon (the smallest kind of spoons) citric acid or tartaric acid – to preserve the dough
600 ml water
Food coloring (it can be either powder or liquid) or tempera
That’s all. It’s not much, right?
Now you have to mix the flour with the salt and the acid and then add the oil and the water. Stir it until it is smooth.
You have a relatively watery dollop now. Put it on the stove (medium level) and stir it continuously until it gets thick. This takes 10-15 minutes at most. And your dough is done. Leave it to cool for 15 or so minutes till it cools down then knead it through.
All you have to do now is to color your dough. You can use food coloring or tempera, powder, liquid or gel it doesn't matter and you can mix them to get different shades. I used green, red, yellow and blue and mixed the red and blue to get some purple. Take a small portion of your dough put a little flood coloring in the middle and knead it thoroughly. Use rather a small quantity of food coloring at once and with the liquid ones be careful, if you put too much in the dough it could turn sticky. The more coloring you use the darker shades you get. If you only want to make the dough in one color you can put the liquid food coloring straight into the water at the beginning.
That’s it. You have now fabulous dough. I really like the texture of this one.
If you are done with playing or you made more than you use no problem. Grab a bag or plastic ware you can secure and put the dough in the refrigerator. You can store your dough there up to 3 months without a problem.
It’s fun to do and fun to play with.
And here are the pictures:
Let’s see what you need for approximately 1 kg play dough:
400 g plain flour
200 g salt – the cheapest you can get is perfect
2 tablespoon cooking oil
4 coffee spoon (the smallest kind of spoons) citric acid or tartaric acid – to preserve the dough
600 ml water
Food coloring (it can be either powder or liquid) or tempera
That’s all. It’s not much, right?
Now you have to mix the flour with the salt and the acid and then add the oil and the water. Stir it until it is smooth.
You have a relatively watery dollop now. Put it on the stove (medium level) and stir it continuously until it gets thick. This takes 10-15 minutes at most. And your dough is done. Leave it to cool for 15 or so minutes till it cools down then knead it through.
All you have to do now is to color your dough. You can use food coloring or tempera, powder, liquid or gel it doesn't matter and you can mix them to get different shades. I used green, red, yellow and blue and mixed the red and blue to get some purple. Take a small portion of your dough put a little flood coloring in the middle and knead it thoroughly. Use rather a small quantity of food coloring at once and with the liquid ones be careful, if you put too much in the dough it could turn sticky. The more coloring you use the darker shades you get. If you only want to make the dough in one color you can put the liquid food coloring straight into the water at the beginning.
That’s it. You have now fabulous dough. I really like the texture of this one.
If you are done with playing or you made more than you use no problem. Grab a bag or plastic ware you can secure and put the dough in the refrigerator. You can store your dough there up to 3 months without a problem.
It’s fun to do and fun to play with.
And here are the pictures:
by Annamária Dudás