More Hands on Play Ideas - Playdough

I love all the creative ideas at The Imagination Tree for playing with my kids.  We haven't been using their ideas every day, but we are all really enjoying the challenge to play with materials in unexpected ways.  Last week, Amelia and I made playdough using the following recipe:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt (buy salt at the Dollar Tree - 2 for $1, what a deal!)
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
food color/flavor if desired

Mix with a sturdy spoon until combined (and not super hot) and then knead with your hands.  Once the dough is smooth, add the food coloring and/or flavor.

Amelia wanted to make red playdough, but try as we might, we couldn't get a good red color, even using the nice Wilton red food gel.  So we settled on pink playdough.  Then we added a splash of peppermint extract (and our playdough smells SO GOOD now!) and a generous shaking of glitter and we ended up with pink glittery delicious smelling playdough.  I keep it in the fridge, and it can last for months.  Becky says she has a tub that is 9 months old and still hasn't dried out; she wraps hers in plastic wrap and then puts it in a tub.  I will have to try that.

Anyway, to make our playdough experience a little different, Amelia and I collected different things throughout the house to add to our playdough.  I set out bins (ie cleaned out lunchmeat containers) and we filled them up with pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, googly eyes (Dollar Tree), little plastic dinosaurs, sea shells, rocks, some leafy plastic greenery, dried spaghetti, colored noodles, and some plastic ladybugs.

The first day, we made islands for dinosaurs:

The pipe cleaner arches are doorways for the dinosaurs to enter the beach, and the noodles on the pipecleaners are flags.  Once they are on the beach, they can eat the green leafy trees, or they can make footprints in the pink glittery sand, or they can swim over by the seashells.

 

 The next day, we made porcupines:

Amelia said that the porcupine makes her have a grumpy face because he is so prickly.  I think he is really cute.

Disclaimer: Amelia picks out her own clothes, which is why she is wearing a red and white headband with a pink and brown shirt the first day, and a completely non-matching outfit the second day.  I love to see the combinations she comes up with!