Homemade Play-Doh Is...

Today has been a lollapalooza of domestic divinity. Which really means that I'm just calling myself awesome. But I made play-doh. Made play-doh. And then we played with it for quite a while. And I didn't even fuss when it was time to clean up the millions of tiny bits that had sloughed off the bigger piles.

The recipe (which I got at this site) is surprisingly easy. You dump all these ingredients:

2c flour
2c water
1c salt
2 tbsp veg oil
1 tbsp cream of tartar

into a pot and cook & stir over low heat until it clumps into a big wad & looks/feels like play-doh. Then you dump it on the counter and knead it until it's soft. Then you divide it up and work food coloring into it until you're happy with the colors. Then your son says, "Mom, I need a steamroller!" and you think for a moment and reply "You mean a rolling pin?" and you gladly lend out said rolling pin and the cookie cutters. You might even turn into a puddle of goo when you think about just how creative your almost-4-year-old is becoming.

I know not everyone likes play-doh...I didn't even think I liked it all that much until I made it. But I like it 'cuz it's super-cheap, and super-easy--it came together in about the time it takes to make oatmeal on the stove (rolled, non-quick oats, not the steel-cut ones). And it has only regular, everyday stuff in it. No weird chemicals or anything (not that the name-brand stuff does, either; it may or may not). And I could let His Highness help make it with little extra mess. And it cleaned up super-easily. And it speaks to my kinisthetic learning style (ie, my need to touch and manipulate stuff). I sat there with the boys, molding and smushing and shaping, in between picking stuff up when they dropped it.

If I were really awesome, I'd have added scented oils & stuff, but I don't have scented oils, so we called it good with the "essence of dough" aroma. I'm not sure I'd have wanted to make it smell pretty anyway--it only took one tiny taste for each of the kids to determine that they most definitely did not want to eat it (as for the edible kind, we'll try that another time). I knew I would not want to eat it, but out of sheer curiosity, I too gave it a taste. Tasted like salt--go figure.

Good for the soul...