The six weeks holiday are here again and for those people with kids, you’ll understand my dilemma with how to keep them occupied for the next month or so.
My first idea is home made play dough, which should keep them quiet for a couple of hours. I always find it keeps them quieter if we have a theme when we are playing with play dough, like a shop and all the things we make go in the shop. Then when they’re bored with making things they can play shops with the things that they have made.
Homemade Play Dough Recipe
2 cups water
1 cup salt
food colouring
4 tsp. cream of tartar (you can find this in the baking section of shops next to the baking powder)
4 tbsp. oil
2 cups flour
I find cups easier to use in recipes like this as it’s so much easier than actually weighing things out when you’ve got the kids standing over you waiting to get going. 😉
* Mix the water, salt, cream of tartar and food colouring in a large saucepan. The more food colouring you put in the brighter the colour will be, but I’d limit it to a maximum of 1.5 teaspoons.
* Cook on low heat and keep stirring it. As the mixture starts to heat up, stir in the oil and then the flour slowly.
* Keep Stirring the mixture until it starts to look dry and is pulling away from the sides of the pan.
* Remove from heat and pinch a piece between two fingers. If it is not sticky then it’s done. Otherwise, continue stirring over low heat.
* Place the dough on a clean work surface and knead it until its smooth. Get the kids to help with this bit!
* When you’ve finished playing with it, store play your play dough in an airtight container or plastic bag to re-use again next time. Pop it in a cool, dark place – not the fridge though.
This is one of our creations from this afternoon, don’t ask why but the kids went snowman mad and made an army of them. It kept them quiet for ages, especially when I got the cookie cutters out for them to cut shapes out with.
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Image credit – Shutterstock, Alexandru Marian
