How to Make Homemade Playdough?

Cooked Playdough

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups water
- 2 TBS cooking oil
- 1 cup salt
- a couple drops of food colouring

Directions:
1. Dissolve the salt in the water first to reduce the lumpiness due to undissolved salt in the dough later on.

2. Mix together and cook in a saucepan over low heat until mixture looks smooth with no lumps in the flour remaining and the mixture pulls away from the side of the pan (no. 4 - 5 on my stove for about 7.5 minutes ). Stir constantly!

3. Knead the dough while it is still warm and divide it into 4 doughs, dip a hole and add food colouring to it (make sure to wear gloves to prevent staining. Then knead and blend well.

Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys9Qmm6FfkM

Additional Information:
It is the first time I made playdough myself. I have been wanting to try it, but didn't get around it. It was rather fast to make, but the colouring part took longer in order to get the richness of the colours I desired. It also suck up a lot of food colouring! Because it required so much colouring, it ended up with too much liquid added and my playdough became too sticky. I adjusted with more flour to reduce the stickiness. But it got too hard! I then added more cooking oil to make it softer. I should also have dissolved the salt first, before mixing it into the rest of ingredients, as the low heat on the stove did not help to dissolve the salt. This is the lesson l learned.

It is not necessary to make cream of tartar, although it would improve the consistency. The salt in the playdough is added to serve as preservative and help the playdough last longer. If you have baby less than 1 year old, who are still putting things into the mouth, you can do without the salt, but the playdough would not last long.

Here are some ideas how to play with playdough - let your child make his own own cakes, cookies, etc. Set up a tray with coloured dough and some objects for your child to shape the dough with. Cookie cutters, toothpicks, and bottle caps are all good choices. Four-year-olds love to use garlic presses. Two- and 3-year-olds may have trouble squeezing the garlic press together, but they can use plastic knives and scissors to cut the play dough. Here is how you can make playdough.

Picture showing steps on how to make your own playdough:

Below are other different recipes I gathered from the net:

Uncooked Playdough

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients and then add wet ingredients.
2. Knead until smooth.

Additional Information:
Children can mix this themselves. Put it into zip lock bags and store in the refrigerator.

Uncooked Oatmeal Playdough

Ingredients:
- 2 cups oatmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl; mix well and knead until smooth.

Additional Information:
Store covered in refrigerator. This doesn't last as long as cooked playdough. This is ideal if your child would like to make playdough himself. Oatmeal playdough dries out easily and can be painted when it's dry.

Magic Playdough

Ingredients:
- 3 cups self raising flour
- 1 cup water

Directions:
Mix the flour and water together and knead thoroughly. The mixture should not be sticky, so add more flour until you are satisfies with the texture.

Additional Information:
This playdough is soft and pliable and fells like risen yeast when it is handled.

Tasty Peanut Butter Playdough

Ingredients:
- 1 cup peanut butter or almond butter
- 1 cup liquid honey
- 1 cup powdered milk
- 1 cup rolled oats ground

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Knead until smooth. Adjust with powdered milk accordingly.

Tasty Edible Playdough

Ingredients:
- 1 cup almond or hazelnut butter
- 1 cup liquid honey
- 2 cups rolled oats ground

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Knead until smooth. Adjust with almond butter or ground rolled oats accordingly.

References:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2282292_make-edible-play-dough.html

http://fun.familyeducation.com/sculpting/recipes/37040.html

http://www.makeandtakes.com/homemade-playdough

http://www.makeandtakes.com/more-playdough-fun

http://www.makeandtakes.com/edible-playdough-you-will-want-to-eat

http://babyparenting.about.com/od/miscellaneousrecipes/a/Uncooked-Playdough-Recipes.htm

http://www.fun-baby-games-online.com/how-to-make-playdough.html

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/activites_for_2_s.html#AugustPlaydough

http://www.naturalparentingtips.com/playdough/ultimate-playdough-recipe-resource/