Did you know that September 16th is National Play-Doh Day? Yep, an official day dedicated to that age old favorite of kids young and old. So let’s celebrate! How about a Play-Doh Play Date? Whether you invite all of the neighborhood kids over, or spend a relaxing Saturday just playing with the kids, I have some fun ideas for you:
First, let’s make
some homemade play-doh! Before your guys glaze over and you skip to the next
paragraph, give me just a second because this is really quite easy. Seriously. If you can make a box of macaroni &
cheese, you can make play-doh. The picture below was my first ever attempt at
making play-doh, so you can do it. And boy is it fun! The boys and I were
looking for a fun rainy day activity, so I figured we’d give it a try.
Homemade Play-Doh
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
½ cup salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tbsp. cream of tartar
Food coloring (optional)
Instructions:
Simply mix all of your ingredients, expect the food
coloring, together in a small pot and cook over low heat, stirring continuously,
until a dough forms and the mixture pulls away from the sides. Cooking time ~5-10min.
Your play-doh will naturally be a pretty off white color. If you’d like to get a little more creative,
add your favorite color of food coloring.
Place your play-doh on the counter, flatten it into a pancake shape and
drop a few drops of food coloring in the center and knead the play-doh until the
color is evenly dispersed. If you would
like a deeper color, just add a few more drops and keep kneading. Don’t forget
to divide your play-doh into sections before adding food coloring if you want
more than one color :-)
TIP: Store your Play-Doh in an airtight container
to keep it fresh for months to come. If
it happens to get a bit crusty and the salt crystals begin to show just knead
it for a few minutes. Feel free to
double, or even triple, the recipe if you are feeling ambitious.
All Natural Play-Doh
If you aren’t up for making your own Play-Doh, but you do
want to make sure your little ones are playing only with non-toxic, natural
ingredients, all you need is to find a good eco-friendly dough which is a lot
easier than it used to be.
TIP: All natural play-doh makes a great stocking
suffer for grownups, it is perfect for carefree stress relief at the office. Think of a stress ball, but funner ;-)
Mess-free Fun
Many parents dread the idea of popping open a new tub of
Play-Doh for fear that it will end up all over the place. One easy way to keep your Play-Doh contained
is with a cookie sheet from the Dollar Store.
Yep, a $1.00 investment. These
cookie sheets are super lightweight and allow for the Play-Doh to stick just
enough to build on but not enough that cleaning isn’t still a breeze! This also helps keep different piles of
play-doh separate and avoid those ‘Joey mixed his red play-doh with my white
play-doh!” issues.
TIP: Be sure to mark your Play-Doh cookie sheets
so you don’t accidentally cook with them. A little paint will do the trick and
you can even get super crafty and paint a name on each cookie sheet.
Candy-Free Treats
Whether
you are creating party favors, making DIY birthday gifts or searching for the
perfect Halloween treat, why not use play-doh?
Play-doh, specially the homemade play-doh you just made, is the perfect alternative
to a sugar filled Halloween treat for toddlers, and a usable favor for your
next birthday party.
How
do you dress up the play-doh? Simply
place your DIY play-doh inside a plastic easter egg or baggie and add a cute
and festive cookie cutters and a bow.
No
mater how you decide to celebrate National Play-Doh Day, be sure to take a few
minutes out of your busy schedule to play with the little ones, those are the
memories they will carry with them forever.
Until
next time,
aka
Chick #1
as seen in Carolina Parent Magazine
