Homemade, Edible Play Dough

Playing with play dough is an awesome way for the kids to learn, it’s even better when they can help make it and even taste it without Mom worrying where or how it was made and what's in it!

I have put together a few recipes that are non-toxic and edible (although I wouldn’t recommend eating too much of it at a time.) A few ways to color your play dough and to make it smell good are using food coloring, kool-aid and powdered hot cocoa mix. You can always experiment with different ingredients until you find a favorite to add to your dough.If you decide to color the dough, separate it into balls and knead food coloring in until the color is the shade you want and is blended in well. 

To make larger amounts, just double or triple the recipe depending on how much dough you want to make. 

This is great to make when the kids need something fun and creative to do, when friends come over for a party or play date and a neat little gift for them to give to their family and friends.

 

Practical Play Dough

The consistency of this dough is very soft and workable, much like what you would buy in a store.

Combine all ingredients into a saucepan.

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

2 cups of hot water

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1-1 1/2 tablespoons of cream of tartar

Cook the mixture over medium heat and stir frequently. When the mixture is well-blended and the consistency of dough, remove the pot from heat and let the dough cool off for a few minutes until it's cool enough to handle, place the dough on a layer of parchment or waxed paper and knead it into a large ball.

If you decide to color the dough, separate it into balls and knead food coloring in until the color is the shade you want and is blended in well.

To make a larger amount, just double or triple the recipe depending on how much dough you want to make.

Basic Play Dough

To make a basic play-dough, you only need a few ingredients. In mixing bowl, blend together

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of salt

1/2 cup of water

If the dough is a little too sticky, just add a small amount of flour until the consistency is to your liking. If the dough seems too dry and crumbly, add a teaspoon of water one at a time to make it more workable.

If you decide to color the dough, separate it into balls and knead food coloring in until the color is the shade you want and is blended in well.

To make a larger amount, just double or triple the recipe depending on how much dough you want to make.

Store dough in an airtight container or plastic baggie without any air in the bag.

Yummy Peanut Butter Play Dough

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup honey

2 cups powdered sugar

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and that’s it, you’re done!

Spray the measuring cup with oil before measuring your peanut butter and honey. They will come out of the measuring cup really easy! Use a dry measuring cup with the powdered sugar so it doesn’t stick.

This recipe has a great consistency & it’s not sticky, but the more the kids play with it, the softer it gets.

To make a larger amount, just double or triple the recipe depending on how much dough you want to make.

Store dough in an airtight container or plastic baggie without any air in the bag.

Bouncing Play Dough

To make bouncy play dough that has a rubbery consistency, you will need to add the following ingredients into a saucepan:

2 cups of baking soda

1 cup of cornstarch

1 1/2 cups of water

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently and slowly bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. When the mixture has thickened and it resembles dough, remove saucepan from heat and allow the dough to cool before handling.

On a surface lined with wax paper, knead in the food coloring into the dough and it's ready to play with!

Same as all of the other recipes, To make a larger amount, just double or triple the recipe depending on how much dough you want to make.

Store dough in an airtight container or plastic baggie without any air in the bag.

Letter to Myself, for My Children and Grandchildren

A Letter To Myself To Be Passed Down To Me, From Me, To My Children and Grandchildren.

Dear Self,

This is something you need to read and understand before you decide to grow up, waste a lot of time being unhappy and make the same mistakes I have made.

 

I know how stubborn you can be at times but at least hear me out before you fold this paper in half, stuff it in a drawer and find it faded away many years from now and wonder why you never finished reading it.

You have big, wonderful dreams for yourself! Don’t ever let go of them for someone else’s dreams, successes, and happiness. Supporting someone while they support their dreams is a great thing but don’t spend so much effort helping them with their dreams that you forget about your own dreams and put them on the back burner. In other words, don’t let someone else’s successes be the product of your own failures!

Don't take yourself too seriously, eventually your views and opinions will change.  Have fun! Even if you look like an idiot, as long as you’re having fun and not hurting anyone, what does it matter what you look like to everyone else? That just means they aren’t having any fun and would love to be you instead of their own self, so strive to be no one else but yourself because everyone else is taken!

Keep in mind the having fun part; the most memorable moments in your life are the ones that happen from spontaneity. Do everything you have an opportunity to do for any reason you feel that you should, if you don’t, you will always wonder ‘what if I would have’ and ‘why didn’t I' and that is no fun at all!

Learn to trust your intuition; it is most usually more right than you could ever guess!  No matter what, self, always go with your gut feelings, because no one else understands you and your own way of thinking better than you, don't listen to people that you think are wrong and don’t let them persuade you that you need to change the way you think or feel.

No one else but you have any clue of who you are, who you want to be or what your limitations are, you can always tell someone but their ideas and yours will be different no matter what, never change who you are. You are much, much more than what any one person can see.

Trust your instincts, follow your dreams, do what it takes to make you happy. Feel free to change jobs, take extra classes if and when you feel the need to. Take up those dance classes, the art classes, karate and join the gym when you start to feel like it is something you love to do and make a promise to yourself that you’ll do whatever you can do to make and keep yourself healthy and happy.

Forgive yourself and others. Love yourself unconditionally. Love every important person in your life like there is no tomorrow because for some people, there will be no tomorrow. 

Love Ya, 

Forever and Always,

                                                       Me

Yummy Mud Pies!

My kids always had great imaginations and the one thing that always made me laugh were mud pies! I don't ever remember making any mud pies when I was a kid, so when my kids started making them I was entertained the whole time!

 Usually they would make them right after it rained in the summer time around the swing set, sometimes I would get some from the yard or driveway.

How is it that I couldn't graciously accept these little tokens of love from my kids? I just couldn't refuse! Finding a Frisbee or another thing to carry them around on was not a problem for my kids, the only rules I had about mud pies was that they weren't allowed to bring them in the house or eat them "for real."

 They seemed to have a great time asking me if I wanted some and I would take both hands and dig in! Pretending I was eating the mud pies while making obnoxious noises to make them laugh and getting some on my cheeks and shirt seemed to make them happier than a pig rolling around in mud on a dry hot day!

 I always had the two most important things on hand that a mom would need when the kids make mud pies. When I knew mud pies were in the making a few towels and a water hose did wonders!