It was a little cold yesterday here in Los Angles…and by cold I mean slightly below 75 degrees. Wes was moping around the house looking extremely bored with all of his toys. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out some DIY kids activities I’ve been collecting on Pinterest. I wanted the fastest, easiest project that would entertain Wes for the longest period of time. So I chose to make a no bake play dough for some fun sensory play.

I actually modified the recipe slightly (more on that later). I’m not a great baker but even still, I’m surprised at how I managed to screw this up. Despite my little crinkle, this was super easy and fast – only 5 ingredients (including food coloring). Check out the recipe and instructions below:

Ingredients

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup of salt

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1/2 – 1 cup of water

Food coloring (optional)

1. Combine flour & salt

2. Add water, oil & food coloring 

3. Knead well

4. Add flour or water to adjust desired consistency

 Voila! Homemade play dough.

Thoughts:

I changed a couple of things that I wouldn’t recommend. I doubled the recipe. That part is fine I suppose. Once kneaded together, I cut the dough into 8 pieces and THEN tried to add the dye. I was trying to make the dough go further. No bueno. The dye didn’t mix (as you can see by the marble like coloring) and I ended up with most of the food coloring on my hands. I guess you are supposed to add it in with the water and oil for a reason. Live and learn.

Wes was mildly entertained by the dough. He stuck his chubby fingers in it for 2 seconds and then put it straight into his mouth and bit off a huge chunk. It certainly isn’t toxic but this stuff is LOADED with salt so he gagged. And I swatted his hand down. And he put it right back up to his mouth…and I batted it down again. I think we spent more time gagging and swatting then playing.

Conclusion:

While this was fast and easy, it certainly didn’t entertain him for long…at all. Total play time = 2 minutes.  The only time he looked amused was when I got desperate and put it on my face and made stupid sounds just so he would remain seated. I’m also not in love with this recipe for toddlers who seem more interested in eating the dough rather than play with it.  If I attempt this again, I’m going granola and making something that is truly edible like this no cook edible pumpkin pie play dough.

– The Confessioness