Play-dough Recipe – a simple recipe for home or travel

Did you know poking, rolling, squishing and mashing playdough helps your little ones develop the smaller muscles in their fingers and hands?
It also helps gain strength and improves dexterity – which are all critical areas of physical development for writing, drawing and other important life skills.

As a travelling family living in a caravan we don’t have room for many toys. One of our favourite things to do is make our own play-dough. It is a great go-to activity for us to keep our mini Blondies minds busy and stimulated. We make it together which is a fun activity in itself as they learn to read a recipe and follow instructions, as well as learn about numbers and measurements. It’s great for a rainy day activity when you are stuck inside and it will last for a month or so if you store it correctly and keep it clean.

Here is our favourite play-dough recipe: 

Ingredients

• 110 g salt
• 250 g water
• 1 tbs cream of tartar
• 250 g plain flour (or wholemeal works fine too!)
• 1 tbs coconut oil (vegetable oil is fine too)
• Food colouring or glitter optional

 

Instructions for Thermomix: (Scroll down for stovetop instructions)

1. Place the salt into the TM bowl and mix on Speed 10 for 5 seconds.
2. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the water and cream of tartar and cook for 5 minutes, 60 degrees, Speed 3
4. Leave to cool for 5 minutes
5. Add the plain flour and the oil and mix together for 50 seconds, Speed 4

This is when I get the kids up and we do a mini workout while we wait :
x20 squats + x20wall push ups + some stretches up to the sky, and touch your toes, rotate your hips etc.

HAVE SOME FUN!

1. Knead for 1 minute on Interval Speed.
2. Check the texture of the playdough and if it’s a little sticky, add some more flour and knead for a further 30 seconds.
3. Roll out onto your bench (a placemat is recommended) and add in a few drops of lavender oil or your favourite essential oils
4. If you are adding colouring – separate the playdough into smaller balls and make a well at the top.
5. Add 1-2 tiny drops of food colouring for a nice pastel colour (and a sprinkle of glitter if you wish) to each ball and mix together with your hands until the colour is evenly dispersed.

Play and Storage tips:

We ALWAYS wash our hands before playing with the play-dough and use placemats. This will keep your play-dough clean and ‘germ-free’ for as long as possible. To store, wrap the playdough in cling wrap or use a ziplock bag and press the air out (or, if you have the space use an airtight container and place in the fridge).  Our fridge space is limited in the caravan so I simply store ours in a zip bag with the other play-dough tools (these tools also double up for sand play and making mud-pies!).

Stove Top Recipe: 

1. Boil water, once water is boiled stir in salt so it dissolves, set aside to cool for 5 minutes
2. Mix in flour, cream of tartar and coconut oil.
3. Mix well and stir over low heat until dough is pliable.
4. Place on bench/placemat dusted with a little flour and knead into a ball. Add in a few drops of lavender oil or your favourite essential oil
5. If you are adding colouring – separate the playdough into smaller balls and make a well at the top.
6. Add 1-2 tiny drops of food colouring for a nice pastel colour (and a sprinkle of glitter if you wish) to each ball and mix together with your hands until the colour is evenly dispersed.

When you’re making your playdough, you might find that you’d like to add a little bit more or less flour. It really depends on the texture that you/your child prefers. If it is a little dry add in some more coconut oil.

Note: If you want your playdough to be a light pastel colour like ours, be careful not to overdo the colour drops or you can kiss goodbye to the lovely pastel look!! I try to use natural food colouring.

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We are currently travelling around Australia and love inspiring others to get out and enjoy nature, travel and live simply.  We’d love you to follow along on our adVANtures – just search for ‘the blonde nomads’ on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube.

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