How can you not love Play Dough?

Granted, you have to be in the right frame of mind for play dough. There are times that I just don't want to deal with the mess.  But most of the time it's a win-win. Kids are occupied and happy and parents have some "free" time to do something else if they wish. My favorite is listening in to their creative play. Today Kenzie was making "little sweet apples" and later she made plates & plates of delicious cookies!

Here is my favorite Play Dough recipe.  It comes from an old Family Fun Magazine and makes quite a bit. What you see in the above picture is only half of the following recipe.

Ingredients:

3 cups of white flour

1 1/2 cups of salt

1 1/2 tablespoons of cream of tartar

3 1/4 cups water

6 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Food Coloring

**Optional: A few drops of your favorite essential oil to make it smell yummy. 

Mix the flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a medium saucepan. In a separate bowl, mix the liquids, adding drops of food coloring (and essential oil if using), until you reach your desired shade. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and stir (don't worry about lumps--they'll work themselves out). Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture holds together and gets too stiff to stir (it will stiffen even more as it cools), about 5 to 10 minutes. **Let it Cool.  It will be pretty warm. If necessary, knead the dough to work out any remaining lumps.

Then let the creativity roll!