strawberry and peppermint play dough

The girl requested pink, glittery and smelling of strawberries and the boy, black and peppermint. I'm not surprised. M made and decorated cupcakes to sell at her shop and T built a zoo with different spaces for the animals to sleep, they both know what they like.

It's very easy- just make playdough as you normally would but add essence in when you add the hot water. 

Some might say Miss 6 and Mr 5 are getting too old for play dough- over an hour of playing with it proves this is definately not the case!

I wish you could smell it : )

 

dish wash dough

This stuff is cool, just add dishwashing liquid to cornflour. It smells great, washes off easily, doesn't dry your hands out and has a weird and fun texture. I'm sure you could use liquid hand soap instead of dish detergent too. Perfect for rainy Waitangi days like today.

skin therapy playdough

Recipe found here: http://www.notwiddletwaddle.com/2012/10/skin-therapy-play-dough.html

This stuff is really nice, it's a slightly different texture to playdough, it smells amazing and my hands feel great. We used regular oats and almond oil instead of coconut oil.

The Ingredients for Skin Therapy Play Dough:

• 1 cup (plus a couple Tbsp) All Purpose Flour
• 1 cup Water (If you want to color the play dough, add the food coloring to the water.)
• 2 cups Quick Oats
• 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla (opt.)
• 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (opt.)

How to Make Skin Therapy Play Dough

• Mix one cup of the flour, quick oats, and vanilla.
• Add water and stir until the play dough forms a ball.
• Knead in the coconut oil one tablespoon at a time.
• Knead in the cocoa powder.
• If the play dough is too sticky add flour a tablespoon at a time to reach the desired consistency.
• Knead the play dough for around three minutes to make the dough elastic.
  
•  If your play dough becomes sticky after time, you can add additional oil. Store in the refrigerator and keep wrapped in an air tight container. Since this play dough does not have salt, it will not last as long as other play doughs.
  
  
  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  

  
  

  

  
  
  
  

play dough - love the stuff!

salt dough ( for hardening in the oven)

eyes and noses

cotton buds

pizza cutter

cup cake liners

landscapes

garlic press

beads

straws

cutting

prints

names

hairdressing!

valentines day

I like Valentines day, I tell my family that I love them daily but I don't think there's anything wrong with saying it again on Feb 14th. The children and I made these gifts for family members ( potential spoiler there!). We started with some already played with red playdough which we rolled out. I helped the children cut out heart shapes and we used lace and the rolling pin to press patterns into the dough. I baked them at a low heat for 3 hours and let them dry out for a few more days. We applied a layer of silver paint by dabbing it with an old sponge and once that was dry I spray varnished them. I've hung them on ribbon and now have to think of a nice way to package them and in some cases post them as they're quite delicate. We made a special one for Dad with his name on it. Mum, you can choose yours!

play dough

Play dough is really popular in our house. I thought I'd share our recipe as it's always come out well and it's an un- cooked version. Just put the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add in the wet ones:

This is enough dough for 2 or 3 children to play with

1 cup of table salt
2 1/2 cups of standard flour
1 1/2 tablespoons of cream of tartar
1/2 cup of oil ( just the cheap stuff!)
food colouring
2 cups of boiling water

Stir, squish, knead and you're done. I store ours in an icecream container in the fridge. I've used 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of cornflour when we were short on flour and it still came out well, in fact the cornflour gave it a nice velvety feel so I'll probably do it again. You can add some glitter for 'fancy playdough' as my kids call it.

A teaspoon, just to give you an idea of how much this recipe makes.