This recipe was a resource in our SHINE curriculum Extras from MennoMedia. I am very pleased with how things turned out. And it’s REALLY easy. I think there isn’t too much difference in homemade play dough recipes, but since I made these four batches, I did read of one that was exactly like this one except that it had a full Tablespoon of Cream of Tartar. The note was made on that recipe to NOT exclude that ingredient because it is the thing that helps to keep it fresh — for up to six months! So I think that the next time I make it, I will put the extra 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar.
Here’s the recipe as they wrote it:
1 C / 250 ml flour (not self-rising)
1 T / 15 ml vegetable oil
½ C / 125 ml salt
1½ t / 7 ml cream of tartar (This is 1/2 Tablespoon)
1 C / 250 ml water
Mix in saucepan and heat briefly over low heat for approximately 15 minutes. Dough is ready when it rolls into a ball. Keep dough fresh in an airtight container. To make different colors, add food coloring to the water.
Microwave recipe: Heat the water and some of the salt (about ⅛ of a cup) in the microwave on high for 2 minutes, or until very hot to the touch. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the salt and the other ingredients in another bowl. Remove water/salt mixture from microwave, add food coloring, stir vigorously, and immediately pour over the other ingredients. Mix immediately. Heat the dough for one more minute on high. For best results, flatten and fold it a few times while hot.
Charis, our granddaughter and I made these four batches in a very short time. I would think in less than an hour total time. We waited on some Cream of Tartar that we needed for the last two batches, but things went really fast. I used one of my heavy aluminum saucepans to heat it in, and I did keep rolling it around in that pan until the color was uniform throughout.
These colors turned out so well. Charis had said that she wanted orange for one of the colors. I said, “Charis, honey, Grammy isn’t smart enough to mix colors and such. I think we will just make some standard play dough in the basic colors. Red, Blue, Green and Yellow or white.” She looked disappointed, but didn’t complain.
When I went to my box of food coloring, I found a box of Wilton Gel Food Colors that I had gotten on a major sale one time when I was in A.C. Moore. I had bought the box on a whim, thinking that I might be able to use them some day. The colors were Orange, Teal, Magenta and Purple. They worked so well and both Charis and I were so pleased with how they turned out. The texture is so smooth and soft. I truly do plan to use this recipe some more!
Delaware Grammy 