Why pay for what you can make at home?

The perfect solution for a rainy day at home. Combine some home baking fun with a great versatile toy as the end result.

If you’re like us, you’ve tried doing this before, but your dough went green and mouldy after a relatively short amount of time. Using a little salt can cure this problem. Also, a little cream of tartar will prevent your dough from crystalising and going hard. Finally, you can add some natural food colouring to brighten up your dough.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vegtable oil
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon cream of tartar

All these items are available in Tescos - I checked their online store.

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a pot. Cook and stir over low/medium heat until dough is formed and no longer sticking (too much) to the side of the pan. Allow to cool and when it’s not too hot for you to touch, knead it until you have a smooth dough. This is the time to add colouring if you’re going to use it. Knead until colour is distributed throughout. Store in an airtight container.

How long will it last?

Your virtually free toy should last approximiately 6 months. In our experience with the store bought version, we will have managed to forget to put a lid back on at some stage way before 6 months - so this shouldn’t be a limiting factor.

Optional:

To make your dough more pleasant smelling and to give it a smoother consistency, you can consider replacing the vegtable oil with baby oil.

Imagine - Create - Play

Now that you have your playdough, it’s time to get creative. When you’ve finished making ever animal you can think of, you could get the digital camera out and try making your very own animated production featuring your play dough creations!

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Jody DIY Toys DIY Toys, play dough, recession busting, toys