Thursday 15 July 2010

52 MMM Challenge Part 2 - Playdough

I am loving this 52MMM Challenge, it is really inspiring me to do things that I have put off for a long time.  Why oh why haven't I tried this before, I can't believe how easy it was!

Well today I have made play dough for the sweetpeas.  It has been quite a hectic week in the sweetpea household with middle sweetpea suffering an allergic reaction to a bee or wasp sting on her toe on Saturday afternoon.  After seeing tracking marks of an infection heading up her leg and her foot looking like a balloon I rang the Dr and she is now on adult dose antibiotics for the week.  They seem to be working but she has been very bored at home so is back at school today.  She is hardly ever ill, before we went to the Dr she asked if it was the place I had gel put on my belly - that was when little sweetpea was in my tummy and she is now 2 1/2 years old!  I am hoping this will be a nice surprise for her when she gets home.  Sorry enough of my rambling - here is what I did.

 
I found a lovely tutorial on how to make this at Skip to my Lou , it is really good and simple to follow.

All you need is:

A cup of warm water
A cup of flour
1 teaspoon of oil
2 teaspoons cream of tartar (found this is the cake making section of Tesco after looking for ages)
1/4 cup of salt
Food colouring


All you need to do is mix these (apart from the food colouring) ingredients into a pan and then start to warm it up.

Keep stirring and it gets really sticky and hard to stir, when nearly all the water has evaporated take it off the heat.  Let it cool and then take it out of the pan.


I then added a little glitter to mine, you can never have too much sparkle in your life :-)


You can then knead in the food colouring.  You can cut it into as many pieces as you like dependent on how many colours you want to make. I cut mine in to two so that little Sweetpea can learn 2 new colours - I think 4 at once would just confuse her brain.  I also used paste food colouring that I bought off e-bay to make cakes with, it is edible so is safe.

 
Here are the red and blue balls I made.

Just store them in an airtight container.  I think I may start keeping those lovely coffee jars to store this in as it will also make fab pressies for Sweetpeas friends as she gets older and goes to parties.

She absolutely loved playing with it (and still is as I type).  I am hoping the older ones love it just as much.  Be warned however, make sure your little ones don't eat too much of it.  Middle sweetpea was a child who loved to taste everything.  Once when she was at pre-school she came home and pooed bright green for 2 days - when I asked what had she eaten she replied 'playdough'.  When I asked why they hadn't stopped her she replied 'I hid under the table to eat it' :-).  It is quite salty so I am surprised it didn't make her ill.

Really do give this a go if you have little ones, I so wish I had tried it so much sooner!

18 comments:

  1. Ooooh saltdough...haven't seen or made that for years now.
    I can remember playing with it at nursery school and get really excited when we got new fresh stuff in a different colour!
    Em xx

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  2. I looks great - love the glitter. I used to make it for a mums and tots group I helped with but we never had sparkles in ours! They all used to try and eat it too. xx

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  3. I make this all of the time for my four. It really is so much better than the manufactured playdough and doesn't matter if it all gets mixed up because you can just make some more!!
    Kerry xxxx

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  4. I made of that during the last school hols, it was very well received here too, didn't do the glitter though, great idea.
    Lisa x

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  5. Is such a great idea, i might make some for me :) have a lovely evening xx

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  6. Hmm, we've had rainbow-wax-lump poo from tasting crayons but no playdough poo yet! I love the fact that she hid while she ate it :) I remember ordering my family to close their eyes while we were having tea... so I could lick the jam off my knife without being told off!! I have tried making my own playdough, but it didn't go so well. It was not quite the same recipe though, so perhaps I should give this one a try next time.

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  7. Oh yes we've done that too, great fun. It always looks like there's no way it'll turn into playdough but then all of a sudden it works. Love your bright colours and glitter.

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  8. Oh, how wonderful, I think mine are getting a bit old for this now.... maybe not, I might make some to keep them occupied this holiday,( one watching me write this is very excited...)

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  9. I love your blog!
    It`s got lovely inexpensive and easy to do projects... which I love!
    And this one, (the playdough)it`s another great one too!
    Thanks for sharing!

    DEBBIE MOSS

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  10. My baby is 17 now, so our play dough days are long over. I have 5 children so I used to make it by the ton! Thank you for the recipe, I haven't a clue where mine went. I will give it to my DIL for my grandson. Kim :)

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  11. Ooh this takes me back ! A friend gave me the recipe & we used it many times. The kids helped mix then loved using the doh. Of course I'm older & the smell of the origional play doh is so nostalgic for me !

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  12. Homemade playdough is so much fun. Thank you for the kind words you left on my blog xx

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  13. Thank you so much for coming to my tea party!
    It was a lot of fun to have you with us!!!
    And I truly appreciate your comment!

    DEBBIE MOSS

    P.S -Your little ones, are just as cute!

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  14. my mother always used to make my playdough and i, too, used to eat it :-)

    scary about the sting, but glad you caught it before it was any worse!!!

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  15. Thank you for your lovely comments over at mine! I often make big batches of playdough for my daughters year 1 children at primary school,i love it so does my son "SHH he is 12" ..well your never to old to play eh! he still also loves plasticine he sits for ages and sculptures!!(Tony Heart and MORPH comes to mind!) Your wedding pics are lovely i must post a pic of my home made dress!oh yes about £6 yes thats all..fabric and trimmings were new and i also made my bouquet....i must go and find a pic!xx

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  16. I can't believe this is your first attempt at playdough! So fun, and just SOOOOO much better than the bought stuff. Try wrapping it in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge...it will last longer that way. I think I'm going to have to go and make some now :) Have you ever made home-made slime?

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  17. Wish my play dough looked like yours - it always comes out either really sticky or too salty and you're left with crusty hands.

    It is very theraputic though!

    Have a lovely day,

    Nina xx

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  18. You have taken me back 10 years, I used to love making playdough for my 3 , sometimes with glitter in if we were feeling posh! I did it from necessity to save money but it wasnt cool in those days!
    I have just found your lovely blog, nice to find someone crafty and into eco stuff like me, please visit me :)
    Heather ~ The Patchwork Heart ♥

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