Homemade Play Dough

Now that Caleb is almost 17 months old, we were trying to think of something today that he would like to do. Something different. :) So i ended up going to the store and purchasing a couple of supplies and made him some non toxic, safe play dough. :) It was actually quite fun making it! (minus the food colouring all over my hands, and a burnt saucepan bottom..lol) PS: Little tip. Ever wondered what gets food colouring off your hands? Shaving cream! Works great. :) 

And even better! He actually loved playing with it and tried to eat it a couple of times. Just small bits. Haha Was quite funny. But he soon got the idea that it was for playing, and not eating. Hehe I bought him a little play dough set from coles, a grocery store for about $5.00. It has a rolling pin, some shapes, and some cutters and spoons in it. :) Very cute, and he loved it! Its fun watching him learn new things, too!
He plays with his toys and things for a little while, but sometimes they are just not enough and as we know children tend to get bored of them sometimes! Sometimes i struggle to come up with ideas on how to keep him occupied! Anyone else have those days? 

Play Dough Recipe 

2 cups Plain Flour

4tbs Cream of Tartar
2tbs Cooking Oil
1 Cup of salt
2 Cups of water
Food colouring 

1. Put all of your ingredients into a saucepan and mix. Put on low heat and stir. 

 2. The mixture will start to pull together. This is what you want. :) Keep stirring though, as it tends to stick to the sides, and especially the bottom of the saucepan! 

 3. Once it has all come together in the saucepan let it cool down. If the dough is sticky to touch, then you need to cook it a bit more. If its fine, cool down and take out and knead. I just put some baking paper down on the table and rolled it on that to help with it not sticking to anything. 

 4. Separate into however many colours you are going to make. :) I made four colours, so had 4 balls of dough ready to dye each one. 

 5. Make a hole with your finger in centre of each ball and drop some drops of food colouring in there. Knead the dough into the colouring. You might want to wear gloves for this! :) Or use cling wrap/clear film to roll it. :)  Or be like me and just use your hands, and pay later. Haha As i said, Shaving cream works wonders to get the food colouring off your hands! Just be sure to take any rings off your fingers first! :) (I did... dont worry.. lol .. after about 10 seconds of rolling my first colour. Haha)

 6. The end result. :) Good enough to eat right? And if you wanted too, sure! Bit salty... but hey, why not. Note though if you have dogs around, make sure they don't eat it! Not too good at all for them. It has ALOT of salt in it... not too good for them. 

7. Store it in an airtight container. I just separated each colour between a piece of baking paper. If the dough starts to dry out, you can wet it a little and knead it again. Works great! But of course, it will eventually dry up and be no good. Oh well, you just have to make some more! :)

 PLAY TIME! :) He loved it! 

So, tell me. :) Whats your ideas, and what activities do you use to occupy a 17 month old child? I would love some ideas! So leave me a comment! :)