DIY: Play Dough

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My play dough making days have taught me three things:
-I don’t like the cooked kind. I always burn it or it burns me.
-No recipe calls for enough flour. Why is that?
-Things that are going to be ruined by children should not call for weird/expensive ingredients

Couldn’t find a recipe that fit my requirements, so I invented my own. Makes great mold-able play dough (apparently also fun to eat-why child, why???) that lasts for quite a long time, especially when kept primarily in the fridge. And the best part is that it is made up completely of items already found in your kitchen (alum? really?!? who has that just lying around?).

The BEST Play Dough

Ingredients:
1/4 cup salt
1 1/4 cup flour (amount of flour may vary slightly depending on altitude)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 T vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
food coloring

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside

Boil water in microwave. Remove from microwave once it has started to boil (I realize you guys aren’t idiots, I just wanted to be clear). Add baking soda, vegetable oil and food coloring to water. I am generous with the food coloring. I like the colors to be dark. Let the water cool down enough that you can touch it. If you don’t let it cool, your play dough will end up grainy-believe me.

Add the water mixture to the flour and salt combination. Stir/knead adding more flour as needed until it isn’t sticking to your hands anymore. Let the dough cool completely. Play time!

Store in Tupperware or be eco friendly and store in old cottage cheese/sour cream containers. Lasts longer in refrigerator.

Looking for more salt dough projects? check these salt dough crafts out on our sister site Craftbits.com

If you are looking for an airdrying clay as an alternative I highly recommend Das Airdrying white clay I have been using it for over 30 years and it never fails me.

After talking about the pirate themed chalk obstacle course the other day, I got to thinking about other easy, low prep games and activities you can do with kids outside. A lot of these are ideas I found on Pinterest that don’t link to blogs anymore if they ever did, but often that’s all the detail you need to figure out what’s going on.

First, a couple from blogs that are still alive. If you have a lot of trees in your yard or in your park, you probably also have a lot of sticks, so you can pretty easily do this stick maze activity from Mother Natured. Build the maze yourself or have one child build if for another. Either way it’s lots of fun and you can keep it built to use as a labyrinth or for pretend play.

If it’s hot where you live you might want outdoor activities that involve water like this fill the bucket relay game. The only thing you might not have at home is giant sponges, but this is still pretty low prep, inexpensive and lots of fun if you have two or more kids to play. Check out how to do it from The Resourceful Mama. And check out my post all about ice and water sensory activities for more ideas to beat the heat.

Make some x’s and o’s or use something you already have to be your game pieces (you can also just draw them on paper plates for a super fast version) and make a large tic tac toe board on the sidewalk. The bonus of reusable game pieces is kids can play with the same grid over and over, which is great if you don’t have a ton of space.

I also love the idea of drawing a big bullseye on the sidewalk or driveway and using beanbags or sponges to try to hit the target. If you have hula hoops you can also set them in a grassy area and have kids try to hit them.

Check out more fun outdoor games for kids from The Printable Princess. These are more for big groups of kids, but if you’ve got a classroom full these are good ones to have on hand for getting some energy out.

Do you have favorite outdoor games for kids to play when it’s hot? I’d love to hear about them!

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