Autumn scented, no-cook, sensory playdough

 

There are literally hundreds of play dough recipes out there these days, probably even thousands. Some work really well, others not so much, so I thought it would be fun to add another one to the mix.

We’ve made our own play-dough before and it’s turned out very well so today we changed it up a bit and gave it more of an autumnal feel. Most recipes you will find follow the same basic ingredients with variations on ratios and then with different twists to give extra scents, textures, shine, elasticity etc but here is how we do it.

What you’ll need.

• ½ cup of salt
• 1&½ cups hot/boiling water
• 2 cups flour (plain works best but as you’re not cooking it, it doesn’t really matter)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp cream of tartar (these can be bought in pre-measured sachets – in which case you want 2 sachets)
• 3 or 4 drops glycerine
• Food colouring (I used warm autumn colours – red, orange, yellow)
• Ground autumnal spices (I used cinnamon, ginger and cloves – would also have used nutmeg if I had any.)

How to make it

• Combine the salt, flour, vegetable oil, cream of tartar and glycerine.
• Slowly add in the water in parts until it forms a dough that is quite sticky
• Separate into however many colours/flavours you are doing.
• Add in food colouring and spices to your own preference.
• Knead for 5 to 10 mins until it’s cool and you are happy.

**I used Tesco’s own brand liquid food colouring which I found to be a bit weak so to get the right colour, it made it more sticky. To counter this, add more flour.
Likewise, if your dough becomes too dry, add more water.

How you play with your dough is only limited by your imagination.
We did give some to Paisley in her high chair but she seemed very insistent on eating it (she’s only 8 months). Swallowing small amounts would’ve been ok but that’s all she wanted to do so in the end we just gave her some cookie cutters to play with.
Dexter was making a lot of ‘biscuits’ but he did make some letters from his name too. He enjoyed using various cutters to make different shapes and patterns. 

Let me know if you give this recipe a go. Have fun!