Making Safe Homemade Play-Doh

Hello Alyssa's readers!
Alyssa has so graciously invited me to contribute to this amazing blog she's built, and I just hope I can do her justice :) You're an inspirational Momma, Alyssa, and I love you! xo


Without further ado, today I decided to make some homemade play dough for Quinn, after reading about the not-so-fun ingredients in traditional Play-Doh (preservatives and binders and petroleum, oh my!). Plus, let's be serious, I didn't feel like spending any money!

Making your own play dough is really easy. No, like, REALLY easy. People, after you try this out, you will not see any reason to buy manufactured (and chemically processed) dough for little hands to squish ever again. Here's the easy-peasy recipe:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup salt
1/2 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
a few drops food coloring

Throw all the ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat (minus the food coloring), and stir until it becomes a dough. This only takes a few seconds.

Put your ball of dough on a floured surface and knead until it cools. Knead in your food coloring and you're ready to go. This dough won't dry out, and I keep mine in a lidded jar in the fridge.

I decided to take it a step further, because I'm not really stoked on normal food coloring...one look at the ingredients list to see what that stuff is that's sinking into your skin does not leave much to be desired: Red #40...parabens...no thanks.

Then I remembered those beets I got the other day. I needed to cook them up so I could have them sprinkled in my salads.

After I let the suckers boil until tender, I let the water continue to boil down for another couple of minutes. I replaced the 1/2 cup of water in the recipe with of this gorgeous ruby goodness, and we were lookin' good.

Now it's Quinn's turn. Hope she likes it!