Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

About six months ago, I realized that I am done with commercial play dough: it is expensive; the kids squabble over the different colors; they then turn around and immediately mix the colors, which seems to change the texture and cause it to dry out more quickly, which means it needs to be replaced more frequently, which brings us back around to--expensive.

A friend gave me this recipe for homemade play dough:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T cream of tarter
2-3 T cooking oil
1 cup boiling water

--Combine dry ingredients
--Add boiling water and 2 T oil
--Stir, then knead, add flour if too sticky (I find it helpful to walk away and let it cool off before adding flour; it firms up as it cools and I add too much flour if I start too soon)
--Add another splash of oil at the end to help keep it moist
--Add color by coloring the water; use food dye or 2 packs of unsweetened Kool-Aid concentrate (which adds both color and scent)


We made some Thanksgiving inspired play dough last night.  Big Brother and Sis helped me combine the ingredients:

I was inspired by this Chasing Cheerios blog post to make this batch pumpkin pie play dough, so we used orange dye and added pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon.  It required a surprising amount of spice before it started smelling yummy.

The kids had a great time playing with it while Papa made dinner.  We just make one color at a time which leaves them nothing about which to squabble about (except who gets which play dough tool . . .).  They've been loving play dough for about a year now and it's one of the few activities that will hold the attention of both kids for 20-60 minutes.