Homemade playdough may be just the ticket to get your kids away from their screens. It’s easy to make and gives kids hours of fun. You probably already have the ingredients on hand in your pantry.

When freshly made, the playdough is warm and feel so good on the hands. This particular recipe, while not tasty, is edible, and is certainly non-toxic. It’s just as good as the store-bought brand, but you can tailor-make your color palette. With this in mind, make several batches so kids have lots of different colors to work with. They will love you for the extra effort!

Get kids’ imaginations going by putting out various kitchen utensils for them to use with the homemade playdough. Give them dull butter knives, rolling pins, a garlic press, a melon baller, or anything else you can think of that isn’t sharp and can be used to make amazing shapes and textures in the dough. When children’s attention flags, you can assign them themes or contests to awaken their interest.

Homemade Playdough Activities

Making tiny replicas of birds’ nests containing tiny eggs is so much fun! So is layering rolled-out pieces of dough, rolling them into cylinders, and pulling out the “petals” to make roses. If you play along with your children, or there are other children or siblings around, create a homemade playdough contest using these examples to get you started:

• Most creative homemade playdough item
• Prettiest rose
• Scariest homemade playdough monster
• Longest “snake”

Don’t be surprised if “older” children can’t help themselves and must get in on the sensory fun. Even adults like to play with this colorful stuff, though it may embarrass them to admit this fact (hint: think of adult coloring books and give yourself permission to play).

Homemade Playdough: Vacation Solution

Homemade playdough is a good solution for the long summer vacation or for snow days. It’s an any-weather solution. And it’s the complete opposite of tech. The sight of homemade playdough will have your kids running away from their computer screens to stick their hands in the colorful dough: there’s just something about the stuff.

Best of all, you can give yourself a pat on the back when you make homemade playdough. It’s not rocket-science. It’s so easy to whip up a batch. And it makes you the greatest parent in the world to your child at the moment you show them what you’ve made for them.

Not to mention, did we say it takes kids away from their screens? Old-school homemade playdough. It’s the anti-tech!

Colorful Homemade Playdough

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• ¼ cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons food coloring
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup water

Method:

1. Combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar in medium saucepan
2. Add water, food coloring, and oil
3. Stir over medium heat with wooden spoon for 3-5 minutes until dough leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball
4. Remove from heat, allow dough to cool in pan
5. Turn dough out onto counter and knead until smooth
6. Store in refrigerator in airtight container or Ziploc freezer bag

Note: This modeling clay lasts 6 months thanks to the addition of cream of tartar.

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Found what you just read useful? Why not consider sending a donation to our Kars4Kids youth and educational programs. Or help us just by sharing!