Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Urf Day.

I was informed this morning by The Boss that we live on planet Urf. Thankfully, Hank wasn't around or there probably would have been some science-y discussion regarding the crust and core, internal temperatures and who knows, magma, too? I thought it was cute since it is Earth Day and all and I know that has been the theme of her projects at school this week. I really am trying to get better about repurposing things we have. For instance, please don't bring any toys here, we play just fine with laundry baskets.

I was thinking about how much my mom used to make herself and had this flashback of her making us playdoh. A quick search on the internet and a few minutes later, I was making my own, too.

It was a breeze and I'm not going to lie, I could not stop kneading this stuff. It was addicting. I was in a sky blue kind of mood, but you can make whatever color you want. I couldn't wait to do some product testing with my bedhead girl. Of course my research has some flaws. My kid has not had a solid color of playdoh for some time so naturally it was going to be novel. What this homemade stuff does lack is that playdoh smell. Perhaps they make an essential oil. ha!

Anyway, go whip up a batch. You know you're not using that cream of tartar in your spice rack for anything else!

Play Dough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 TBSP cream of tartar
1 cup water (mine was boiling)
1 TBSP oil
food coloring

In a sauce pot, add flour, salt, and cream of tartar. On low heat, slowly mix in water and oil and mix well. Add in desired amount of food coloring. Stir constantly until it starts to form a ball and pull away from the sides. Remove from the pan and knead until smooth.

***Note, at first I went with an uncooked version of this recipe that called for boiling water, but it didn't seem to come together so I switched to a cooked version. Remembering that my mom cooked hers, I transferred it all into a pot and kept stirring and it came together nicely. So, you may not have to use boiling water, but it probably helps it come together faster.

5 comments:

jen said...

Homemade play dough is pretty much all I know from childhood. I guess it's time to get some plastic containers and whip up a few colors.

Cara said...

thanks for the recipe, i think i'm going to try this next week :)

jpournaras said...

You are always a wealth of knowledge:) I will have to remember this! (lilly25)

Life with Pog & FLeC said...

Oh how fun! I wonder when Pog will be interested in dough...? Happy Urf Day.

Sue said...

When we made play dough at my daughter's preschool we used to add a little peppermint, lemon, orange or vanilla extract to make it smell good!