Fun with homemade play dough

I've held off on homemade or store-bought play dough because I have one little lady who still loves to put everything in her mouth. We used to go to a drop-in centre fairly regularly. They made their own play dough every week and without fail, I was scooping it out of a mouth.

I decided that I'd give it a try, stressing that play dough is for playing and not eating. They finally get it :)

True to this mommy blogger's word, this really is the perfect play dough recipe!

THE PERFECT PLAY DOUGH!

Ingredients
1 cup of white flour
1/2 cup of salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar (buy what you need at a bulk store)
1 tbsp oil (I used olive oil)
1 cup water
Food colouring (optional)
Essential oils (optional)

Directions
1. Mix flour, salt and cream of tartar in a pot.
2. If you're using essential oils, add a 3-4 drops to the oil and then add to the pot.
3. Add food colouring (if using) to the water to make your desired colour, then add to pot.
4. Cook over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Dough will clump and become very difficult to mix.
5. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Knead play dough for a few minutes. Enjoy!

At the request of the girls, I made two different ones. Blue - smells minty fresh from peppermint essential oil. Orange - smells like orange from sweet orange essential oil. Random note: Sweet orange is a perfect essential oil for little kids. It is a happy and calming scent that brings peace to the mind. 

This is what we ended up doing with the play dough. I saw this activity online recently, but can't remember where. I wish I could give credit because it kept the girls busy for ages. Quinn, my 'get up and go after 2 minutes of doing anything' kid, loved this and sat for more than 20 minutes carefully placing O's on spaghetti.