The diary of Dad

With many of facing a long time in the house with our little ones, we are all looking for new ideas on how to keep them entertained. This post will show you how to make your own play dough using a simple recipe and ingredients you probably have lying around in the cupboard as well as loads of fun that you can have around the house with play dough.

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Simple homemade play dough recipe

Making the dough only requires five simple ingredients and no cooking is needed.

• 7 tablespoons of plain flour
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• 50ml of warm water
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• Your prettiest food colouring

Of course all of these measurements can be altered depending on the size of the dough you want to make, but this should give you plenty to play with!

Preparation

1. Mix the salt and flour together in a large bowl. Use a measuring jug to mix the oil and warm water, along with a few drops of your chosen colouring.
   
2. Add the liquid to the bowl. Mix it all together thoroughly.
   
3. Knead the dough using your hands on a flat and clean surface. This is a great chance for the kids to help too! Add more colouring at this point if you want your dough to be even brighter.

If you want to to make a whole range of colours, simply repeat the recipe using different food colourings each time.

If you are happy with just the one batch, It’s time to play! As we all know, play dough can be transformed into all kinds of fun shapes and sizes. My son loves learning his numbers and letters so we took the opportunity for to play and learn with him.

There are so many great ways to have fun with the play dough. You can build roads and cars together for your little one to enjoy or simply make a giant ball and play catch. The more imaginative and older kids may enjoy more complicated designs such as making pizzas or modelling their favourite toys and hobbies.

Have a look around the house. Products such as toothpicks, spaghetti, sprinkles and glitter can take your play to a whole new level!

I hope you have fun making your own play dough, if you found this recipe useful please give it a share. For those that still find buying their own much simpler, there are some really cool sets available on Amazon. Just click the link below to view the Baby shark set along with all your little monster’s other favourites!