Rollin’ in Dough

My GI, while absolutely a great dad almost always, has a Playdough phobia. He hates it…even outside. Sometimes, though, I just need the hooligans need to work on their fine motor skills. And thus, we need to shape some dough.

We never have actual Playdough in the house (see reason above) but I do always have baking soda and cornstarch, the two main ingredients in this wonderful stovetop modeling clay.

My mom and grandmother were both art teachers, and we did lots of crafty stuff growing up…including tons of salt dough creations. I remember that being fun, but with Oklahoma’s humidity, they never lasted long.

I’ve not tried drying out this dough…my kids like to play with it too much. It has lasted about 6 months, stored in Ziploc bags in the (garage) refrigerator. Shhhh…I don’t think the hubs knows it’s there. I like the texture of this dough, and it’s white when it’s done, unlike other doughs. That makes it easier to color.

But enough rattling on…here’s the how-to.

Stovetop Modeling Clay

16 oz box baking soda

1 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 cups water

Liquid food coloring

In a saucepan, stir together baking soda and cornstarch, then whisk in water until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to bubble up and get thick and lumpy. Continue cooking and stirring until it’s really thick and smooth, about 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and turn out onto a plate. Let it sit until cool enough to handle (for you, not your kids!). Divide into four equal portions, then add a couple of drops of food coloring to each ball. Knead it like bread dough for a few minutes, until the color is evenly distributed and as dark as you’d like. Wash your hands between each color, to keep colors true.

Let the colored dough sit, loosely covered, until completely cool. Store in Ziploc bags in refrigerator (separate colors in separate bags). Once it’s blended, we’ve never had problems with colors coming off on our hands or tables.

Like Playdough, if little bits fall off as you play, you can easily sweep it up when it dries.

I think this would make a great addition to an Easter basket, the colors are so spring-y… tomorrow is the first day of spring, after all! And when isn't it a good thing when you make a toy at home...my kids always get a kick out of that. Enjoy!