Homemade Play Dough:
Mira is 2 and half years old now.Time flies, yes it does:)..She has started making sentences in her own gibberish ways, which only I can understand. She loves reading, solving puzzles, listening to music, coloring and screaming of course:)..She’s more of a indoor games person and loves to do activities at home. It’s fun watching her grow and of course there are some panic moments:). She still hasn’t overcome her habit of putting things in her mouth. Give her any object and she’ll first try it by tasting it. We are always on high alert when we give her activities like coloring or stringing beads. This situation prompted me to look for activities which require home made stuff , so that they are safe for her. Our latest introduction to activities list is the play dough. I tried giving her the store bought play dough and I knew that it would first go in her mouth and she did!!..sigh! Out went the store bought play dough.
I spent quite some time researching on web on how to make edible(can be put into the mouth and not meant to be eaten per se) play dough which is safe and prepared with ingredients present at home. I particularly liked this recipe which was mentioned in Redtedart. This requires just 3 basic ingredients and color is optional.Children love playing with colors so adding edible food color is a good way to get them to play.I tried tasting the dough and not a great dough to taste, so I’m sure she’ll be forced to just play with it and not taste it. I also found out that this is also an excellent way to teach them colors. Mira now asks me for red dough or green one as these are the colors she just got introduced to.
Try making small quantities of different colored doughs and you can also add some edible glitter. Go ahead and have fun making colorful wonders. Another important point to remember is if you stay in a place which is hot and humid, please store the dough in an airtight container in the fridge to prevent fungus growing on it. The salt added in the dough is meant to prevent fungal growth.
You’ll need:
All purpose flour(maida): 1 cup
Vegetable oil: 1/2 cup (actual recipe asked for 1 cup, have reduced to half)
Salt: 1/2 teaspn
Water
Food color of your choice: I have used red and green.
Procedure:
Heat some water in a container and mix the required amount of color to it. In a bowl mix maida, vegetable oil, salt and rub the mix with your hands. Salt is added to prevent fungus growth and the dough has a longer shelf life. I did not want to take the risk so I store the dough in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge.To the above mix, keep adding the color mixed water little by little and keep kneading. This is a bit of an exercise for your arms as you have to keep kneading till the dough is very soft, just like store bought play dough.
Lo and galore the play dough is ready for your child’s creativity. Have fun with your little one. Mine loves rolling chapattis and making dosas with the dough:)..