homemade playdough

Homemade Playdough Recipe: 2 parts flour (in this example 1 part = 1/4 cup) 1 part salt 1 part warm water (tinted with food coloring) Mix together until it has the desired consistency. Will keep in air tight container for no more than a week. This was a fun project in which each child got to make his/her own batch of playdough. First, I prepped for the project by placing a paper bowl, plastic spoon and a 1/4 measuring cup in front on each seat. Also on the table was a large bag of flour and a large container of salt. On a side table, I had pre-mixed warm water + food coloring in various small glass jars (each jar a different color).

When the children arrived, we instructed them to place 2 scoops of flour and 1 scoop of salt into their bowls. This was a great way to practice counting and measuring. They stirred this dry mixture well. Next, we helped the kids add 1 scoop of colored water to their bowls and they stirred again. Once the mixture became difficult to stir with a spoon, the kids used their hands to finish mixing and kneading until it got to a playdough consistency.

There is an "awkward" stage in the dough when it's too thick to stir with a spoon, but extremely sticky on the hands. We encouraged the kids to keep kneading the dough through that sticky phase, telling them that the more they mix it with their hands, the less stick it will become. Once the dough became pliable, we played! We made snakes and balls, we flattened our playdough using markers as "rolling pins," we used popsicle sticks and cookie cutters to cut shapes. We all had so much fun that we lost track of time!