Today for Make it Monday, I made homemade playdough. I used this recipe from Living Well Mom, and it turned out really well. Even though we have store bought play dough at home, I wanted to do a homemade recipe because I figured Buddy would try to eat it. (I was right.) This recipe has a lot of salt, so it wouldn’t be great to actually eat. However, I’d rather have Buddy play with this playdough because I know what is in it.
It took about 10 minutes to actually make the playdough, and even with cleanup, it only took about 20 minutes total. The last time I made playdough, I used a different recipe that was more edible, but I didn’t like the texture and it only lasted for a few days. This one felt a lot like playdough and it is supposed to last a long time.
Buddy was very unsure when I first gave him the playdough. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with it, but he was much happier when I stuck some cut straws into it.
Why did you give me something that isn’t food? What do I do with this?
Buddy loved poking the straws in the playdough.
I pulled out some other playdough toys, but the only ones that interested Buddy were the straws. He didn’t want to actually touch the playdough until I made it into balls, and then he was willing to pick them up. It wasn’t a major success, but it did keep Buddy entertained for more than a half hour.
Finally touching the playdough.
Yes – Buddy definitely wanted to taste the playdough.
I’m going to wait a couple weeks and then pull the playdough out again. Hopefully this batch will still be soft, and Buddy won’t be quite so unsure about playdough. If you have any play ideas for young children and playdough, I’d love to hear them.
Edit 1/29/17 – This weekend the playdough finally dried up. So this batch lasted for more than 7 months! We still love this recipe, and I plan to make another batch again soon.
