Store Cupboard Play Dough

​My small folk love play dough, it's one of those activities that will literally entertain my 3 and 4 year old for a good hour or so. I've always made my own, something I started, mainly due to cost when my, now teens were small and I've been doing it ever since. I can knock up a batch of this in less than 10 minutes for pennies which, when money is tight makes a big difference.
 
I also find it doesn't dry out as quickly as the commercial stuff and the recipe is very forgiving of you not having quite the right ingredients! That's quite handy at the moment when nipping to the shop for supplies isn't practical or even possible.
 
I use a cooked method for making play dough, there are lots of other methods on the internet and I'm not saying this one is the best, but it is the best one I've tried. It's pretty foolproof and lasts well for a month or so in a sandwich bag so you will get lots of play sessions from a single batch.

How to make it

Ingredients

1 cup of plain flour - any kind of plain flour is fine, I've never used self raising but I imagine that would probably be ok too
¾ cup of water - tap water, no fancy water required
¼ cup of salt - fine table salt works best as it's just easier, if you only have salt in a grinder, that's fine too, it will just be a lot more time consuming!
1 tablespoon of oil - I tend to use coconut oil as I love the smell and tend to always have it in (I could probably write a blog on things to do with coconut oil but that's for another time) Any oil will work just fine though, vegetable oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, even margarine will do the job.
Colour (optional) - any kind of food colouring, liquid or gel will work fine.
Scent (optional) - a few drops of essential oil or extracts such as vanilla or mint etc that are used in cooking.
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Equipment

​A saucepan - any pan will be fine and you don't need to designate a pan for play dough, you will be able to wash your pan thoroughly afterwards and then use it for cooking.
A bowl - any kind of bowl, plastic, ceramic, glass or anything else that you can mix the dry ingredients together in.
A cup measure - an actual cup measure or a mug, this recipe is very forgiving so approximation is absolutely fine as long as you keep the rough proportions. (if you use a very large mug you may want to double the oil to maintain the ratio)
A tablespoon - for measuring the oil, measuring with a teaspoon twice would work to
A mixing spoon - I use a wooden one, but anything to stir your play dough with, plastic spoons, spatula, tablespoons work just as well.
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Method

​1. Measure your water and chosen oil into a saucepan over a medium heat until it's hot but not boiling. This step will also melt the oil if you're using one that's solid at room temperature.

2. If you're using colours or scents add them to your wet ingredients in the pan now and give it a stir.

3. While the wet ingredients are heating up measure the salt and flour into your bowl and mix well.

4. Once your wet ingredients are hot, remove from the heat and add your dry ingredients. Mix well until the play dough comes together into a ball. At this point it will be slightly sticky but not sticking to the pan.

5. Carefully take the ball of play dough out of the pan and knead for a couple of minutes until smooth.

6. Cool and play! We tend to get stuck in once it's cooled down a bit, but still warm.
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​There is a lots of things you can do with your dough now, use your hands, cookie cutters, butter knives, a garlic press… anything that you can think of to create and play!
 
I would love to see what you've been doing with your play dough, please feel free to share any photos or videos and let us know if you have any top tips for making playdough or activities to do with it.

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By Jeni Atkinson - CalmFamily Director