The process of creation and imaginary thinking starts right at the moment of selecting and developing the materials. That's why we love making this playdough - it's almost a combination of playdough and slime (not quite) and it smells fantastic, just as you like!
It's not only healthier (you know all the ingredients, colors, and scents of your choice!), but you're teaching your children how to create, modify, fail, be flexible, and succeed when engaging in the process. These are not just gross motors, fine motor, STEM skills - but an attitude towards the approach of life.
From my recipe, you'll get about 16 ounces of the "the original" play-dough, that in our video was divided into 5 parts and colored accordingly with the Summer Song picture book color pallet.
Check out more videos in the Summer Song playlist to learn more about Summer Island crafts and subscribe to ArtsKindred YouTube channel to be notified of new music, movement and craft ideas for kids. Ingredients: - 3/4 cup of boiling water (discard 3 tablespoons of it, since we'll add lemon juice later to make it 3/4 cup in total) - parents please help your kids with boiling and preparing hot content - 1 cup of flour - 1/4 cup of salt - 3 tablespoons of lemon juice (or vinegar if you'd like) - 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil - Colors: your favorite spices (Turmeric and cinnamon are our favorites!) or food coloring Any scents and additional stimulating additives (ex. glitter) We didn't use any in that video above, we focused on developing earthy Summer Song colors, mixing on top of the beautiful original cinnamon color. How to prepare the no-cooking play-dough:
1. Add lemon juice or vinegar into the hot water, and mix well. My kids like to add colors later, after "the original" dough is formed. This way, they can experiment with their own colors. Feel free to add spices/colors now, on the video above we added a part of cinnamon into the water.
2. Mix flour with salt
3. Pour the hot liquid into the dry mixture, stirring it rapidly, but don't make it fully combined yet.
4. Add the oil and keep stirring and folding combined, and begins to form a ball.
5. At that moment, you may be able to work on the playdough mixture with your hand (please check it responsibly, if too hot, use the spatula). Roll it, flat it, knead it, flatten it, shape into a ball, play like your kids would! You'll see that they'll be eager to start playing with you too, or add more spices and scents :-) The dough will become less sticky as it cools, so don't add flour, just keep having fun kneading it!
6. Big decision moment! Colored or original? Scented or not? Raspberry or blueberry scented playdough? Turmeric or lavender (adding lavender flowers)? It's all up to you!
Store your playdough in the airtight containers or Ziploc bags, refrigeration makes it last much longer too.